I don’t tell her that when this is all over, I won’t be meeting anyone. I’ll die before I let AURA get a hold of the Blade, and even if Gabriel does return from Hell with a weapon, we have no idea if it’ll do a damn bit of good against the Blade.
The floor under us shakes. Zoe sighs, rolls her head around until her neck cracks, and returns to her workstation. “That,” she says, “will be Gabriel.”
Gabriel
I stagger back into the conference room and drop the Devil’s axe onto the table.
“Holy shit.” Willow gets to her feet. “Is that…?”
“Do not touch it. There are only a few in this realm powerful enough to wield it. I have no idea what it will do to someone who is not…celestial.” I capture her hand in mine and bring it to my lips. Being away from her feltwrong.
“If the lieutenant asks,” Zoe says, “Sin and I knew nothing about your plans to bring a Hell-forged weapon into this building. Got it?”
I incline my head, then glance around the room. “Where is Sinclair?”
“On a taco run. He should be back in ten minutes. Maybe less.” Zoe picks up her phone, and her eyes widen. “Shit. Kàrais awake. I’m calling Mad and Killian now. They say they have news.”
If it were not for my desperate need to protect Willow, I would find Sinclair right this second and beat him bloody. He was supposed to protect them while I was gone, and heleft.
He left Zoe as well.
As Zoe plugs her phone into the video system, Willow’s fingers trail over my bicep. “Are you okay?” she asks. “You’re tense.”
Fuck. I need to get a tighter hold on my emotions. “Dealing with Lucifer is tiring. He used to be a friend. But I do not know him at all anymore.” With a sigh, I drape my arm around her shoulder.
Killian picks up on the first ring. He and Maddox sit side by side, with another couple next to them. The woman is tall, blond, and beautiful. The man is slightly shorter. They’re both so pale, their skin is almost pure white.
“Kàra and Ewan, meet Zoe, Willow, and Gabriel,” Killian says. “Are we waiting for Sin?”
“No,” Zoe says. “He’ll catch up. Kàra? We need to know everything you can tell us about the Blade and how we can destroy it.”
EIGHTEEN
Willow
Kára frightens me, despite being all the way in Newfoundland. She’s preternaturally still, so utterly focused, and lethal in every way.
“Understand these are only rumors,” she says. Her fingers twine with Ewan’s. Do they tremble a little? Shit. That’s not good. “My sire…he would talk while heworked onme and my sisters. The rumors of the Blade started hundreds of years ago. He thought them folly at the start, but after a few months, he changed his mind. Obtaining the weapon wasallhe spoke of.
“There have been many powerful covens in history. But none so powerful as the first.” She turns her gaze to Gabriel. “You were present at the beginning, angel. You should understand.”
My celestial protector inclines his head. “Present, yes. But I regret to say I concerned myself little with the goings on in this realm beyond my duties.”
“Your duties?” I ask.
He straightens his shoulders. “I am the bringer of justice, the revealer of truth, and the interpreter of the Almighty’s plan.”
“Huh?”
Gabriel’s amber eyes narrow. “Excuse me?”
His confusion is almost adorable. “Oh, come on. That’s the world’s worst canned answer ever. Right up there with ‘Your call is important to us’ and ‘Turn it off and back on again.’ What do you actuallydo?”
Kàra clears her throat. “We do not have time for distractions. May I continue? If the Blade is in play, I need to contact my sisters. No one is safe while its magic is in the world. You of all people, Whisper Keeper, should know this.”
Her rebuke stings, and a low growl rumbles in Gabriel’s chest.
“She’s right.” I rest my hand on his arm. “I won’t be able to resist the Blade’s pull much longer. We can talk about this later. But wewilltalk about it.”
