Those familiar eyes narrowed on her. “Someone’s been brushing up on her fighting skills.” With a derisive laugh, he grabbed the obsidian dagger, yanking it out with a brief wince. “I knew I should have killed you ages ago, Harvey.” Cold anger swirling in his eyes, he flung Shae’s dagger at Aza, who grabbed it mid-air. “Finishhim.”
“I’ve been waiting for this.” Aza leaped for Harvey, who jumpedaway.
Blood thundering in her head, Shae shoved Aza with all her strength. He lurched back a step. Snarling, he flashed, came up behind Harvey, and sliced her best friend’sthroat.
Harvey’s eyes darkened in shock. He gurgled. Blood sprayed from the wound like a fountain as hefell.
“Nooo!”An agonizing sob tore free. She dropped to her knees on the hard, cold floor and held her friend, tears dripping down her face. Harvey’s body shimmered from her blood-drenched arms, and he vanished, hauled back to the Dark Realm indeath.
“Everything else is on track, too,” Aza reported to Samael then strolled past Shae and returned her dagger to him with a satisfied smirk. “The asshole Guardians are back on the streets, the butler’s busy outside. My demons play a good game of chaos. The ruckus should keep them busy for most of thenight.”
“Good.” Samael stepped in front of Shae. “Get off the floor, mydear.”
Two demons came forward and lifted her by her arms when she didn’t move. “Why?” she cried. “Why are you killing my family—my friend? My uncle, what did he ever do toyou?”
“You still haven’t guessed? I’m disappointed, Shae. Very well…” He waved his hand over himself, and the next instant, he shrank to average height, his features morphing to the familiar ones of Uncle Lem. Two seconds later, he was the blond man again. “For years, I’ve stayed this way, using the alter ego. Revolting really, wearing a weak human skin, butnecessary.”
Oh, God. The pain of betrayal corroded her insides as it all began to makesense.
She loved a phantom, an uncle who didn’t exist. She cut Samael a stare of utter loathing. “Mom didn’t leave because ofmesix months ago, did she?Youtook her.Why?”
“Because you and your mother belong to me. Only she forced my hand, refused me. It’s really bothersome having to recount everything.” With a touch of his hand on her forehead, memories spilledfree.
Shae staggered against the wall, grabbing her skull as images erupted. Her dreams. She pulled out the dagger from her father’s chest, and in a flash, he too disappeared. “My father—” The truth cleaved her in half. “Youkilledhim.”
“Oh no, my dear,” he said, his face void of emotions. “Not me, but he had togo.”
“Why?” She gripped the edges of the desk so her knees wouldn’t buckle, the sight of Harvey’s blood spilled on the floor rendering herhelpless.
“You don’t know what he was?” Surprise colored his tone. “All these years, and they kept your heritage hidden from you?” He laughed. “Your father was a throne—a third-level angel created for war. But in this world, Gusion forgot our plans and vanished. When I found him again a decade later, he was preparing to go back to the Celestial Realm, to give up his wings and fall.” Samael’s highly polished shoes came into her line of view. “Imagine my surprise when I found out that he’d mated a mortal and spawned you. I wanted to kill you to teach him a lesson, but then I realized you were a nephilim. You had to have some of his powers. So Iwaited.”
Her gaze snapped to him. “A nephi—what?”
“A half-angel, dear girl. However, except for sensing demons, your abilities never showed. You took after your human mother. And just when I thought I was wasting my time with the both of you, it happened. Who would have guessed that all it took was a fight between you two? Mother and daughter. Then your laptop short-circuited and exploded, sending her flying across theroom.”
He laughed. “That evening, one of my minions thought to have his way with Jenna, and a miracle occurred. Her powers awakened. She destroyed him within seconds, melting every muscle and bone. I realized then that she was the long-awaited psionic, a descendant of the powerful Watchers. Finally, I knew I could still have it all withher.”
His chilling smile grew. “You see, that’s why I had to separate you two, so she would do whatever I wanted. I laid out little traps, had her killing humans and Others alike, but Michael thought himself too lofty to investigate their deaths. He sent those pissy Guardians to snoop around instead.” Samael ambled to the window, reached behind him, and scratched his back. “No matter, today I shall befree.”
How could she not have known? Not guessed the truth? For so many years, she’d lived with this monster. And all the while, he’d been using her mother to kill. Her stomach churned, her hands shook, sweat beading on her brow. “And you think you can defeatthearchangel?”
“I don’t have to.” He pivoted to her. “Jenna will kill him. And she can. Why do you think I let the demon, Luka, leak where she was? It was time to get this damn show on the road.” Sinister laughter echoed in the room like splintered glass. “Because Michael is responsible for what’s been done to me, and he will fix it, or hedies.”
“Samael. We had a deal,” Aza said from across the room. “I took care of Gusion. Gave you my demons when you required them. Now, give me thegirl.”
His words barely registered, her throat swollen with tears as she grieved for her parents, for an uncle that didn’t exist, and for her friend. And more, at how easily Samael had played everyone from her to thearchangel.
Samael sauntered closer to Aza. “You’ve waited several months for her, you can tolerate a few moreminutes.”
“Your fight with the archangel isn’t mine. Give her to me, or I will send all my demons back to the Dark Realm, even the ones on the street.” Aza stalked over to Shae, then tripped, crashing into the desk. He grabbed his throat. His eyes bulged, choking sounds filling theair.
“Never threaten me, Azaul,” Samael murmured, cool boredom on his flawless face—and all the more terrifying forit.
Aza rubbed his throat, his dark eyes becoming black holes as he straightened. In a blur, he moved toward her. Shae jumped back, evading him by a hair’s breadth as he knocked into the desk, scattering papers everywhere. Someone grabbed her frombehind.
Snarling, she elbowed the minion hard in the belly. A raucous growl blasted her ears. His huge fist came flying toward her face, landing with the impact of a boulder. Pain exploded from her jaw and into her head in a kaleidoscope of stars as she crashed to theground.
“Very well, you want the girl? Go get me her mother,” Samael’s words echoed in her mind as it all wentdark.
