The day passed uneventfully. Lucian even commented on the slowness of the day and how I must've been driving his customers away. "Har, har." I stuck my tongue out at him and went back to my video editing.
I'd stopped following him around the office when he noticed it and asked me what I was doing. I'd made up something about going to the bathroom and went back to his desk to work.
"Well, I'm out of work to do." He threw up his hands and laughed. "I need to make some cold calls, but first I'm going to fix that painting. Linda's been asking me to do it for weeks."
He moved to the closet and took a hammer out, then went out into the hallway. His offices had glass walls, so visibility from the front of the waiting room to the back wall was clear. The only rooms closed off were the bathroom and a couple of closets.
I glanced up as he moved into the hall, distracted by a piece of video that hadn't come out right. I'd either have to get myself in the same outfit and look exactly right to reshoot or leave the mistake in it. An editor's nightmare.
Freezing, my mouth dropped as I watched Lucian fall flat on his back. I couldn't see from the desk what he'd slipped on, but I saw the hammer fly out of his hand all too well.
As he hit the ground, probably unhurt but for his pride, the hammer circled into the air, straight up. As it changed trajectory and fell, I realized it was heading straight for his head.
So did he. He scrunched his eyes closed and threw up his hands to protect his face, but I twitched my finger. At the last second, the hammer deflected and buried its pointy end into the tile beside him.
"Holy crap!" he exclaimed.
Linda and I ran into the hall. Lucian struggled to his feet and stared down at the hammer, the wooden end sticking up. It had buried itself deep. "Sorry for the language," he said to Linda. Certainly not to me. I cursed worse than he did most days. "That thing was headed for my face." He looked around the office as if the answer to how it hadn't hit him would appear. "If it had hit me, I would've been hurt badly."
I wrapped my arms around him. Damn Gabriel. I hadn't even seen him. "What made you fall?"
Lucian turned around and showed me a dark spot on his pants. "Water on the floor. I think my pants absorbed it all. It was just a little."
Water. Nice try, Gabe.
"Are you hurt?" Linda asked. "How'd the water get there?"
Lucian shrugged. "I don't have a clue. I'm okay." He rubbed his butt. "Tailbone is a little sore."
I chuckled. "Come on, hammer-boy. Let's go home. You said it's slow, and now you're all wet."
He nodded. "Yeah, okay. I could use the afternoon off." He turned to his secretary. "Linda, why don't you forward calls to my cell and take the rest of the day?"
Her face brightened. "Sounds great!"
In a few minutes, we were locking the office door and heading for our cars. What was the good of having a flexible schedule if we couldn't take the rest of the day off when my lunatic angel brother decided to kill my husband?
Chapter 9
Constance-Lilith
Once we got homefrom the office, I convinced Lucian I needed a nap, and that I needed him beside me for it. As soon as he dozed off, I tapped into the magic coiled inside me. I couldn't use much of it in a human body, but I trickled enough into Lucian's mind to keep him asleep for several hours. It was a dirty trick, but he'd be safe enough in bed while I ran next door to talk to Adam. Michael.
Damn it!
There was a path between the properties, but it was rocky and uneven, so I walked around. Down our long driveway, about a quarter-mile up the road, then up Adam's long driveway. Living out in the country had its benefits, with no close neighbors being one of them. Until you needed to go talk to a neighbor. Then it was like, damn, if I'd been in the city I would've already been back home by now. Should've driven.
Walking gave me time to contemplate my situation. What was I going to do with a baby? If it came out human, I couldn't take it out of the Earth realm. A human entering Hell or Heaven took an extraordinary amount of magic, and the human's earthly body died when they entered the ethereal realms. It was how we made new Angels and Fallen.
Taking off with my husband asleep felt so underhanded. I wanted to tell him everything, as well as get his advice on how to fix the problem.
Maybe we could just unlock his memories. He might have the answers we needed.
Whatever we decided, I needed more information and advice. A way to get through this until we solved it. I needed Michael on my side, to help me keep Lucian alive for the time being.
I stomped up Adam's porch steps and rapped on his door, realizing belatedly that I had no way of knowing if he was even at home.
The door swung open to reveal Michael standing in front of me in all his glory. His Light glowed from every pore. "What the hell?" I asked.
