That confused her. “What?”
Luke laughed. “Remi’s the archangel Remiel.”
Her jaw went slack. “No way… You’re kidding.”
They both shook their heads.
“A demon and an angel…friends?”
“Luke’s not really a demon. He claims that status, but his father is an angel and his mother a hound. Demons don’t enter into his genetic code.”
Her partner snorted. “Remi is overly literal, as in he’s ASD on steroids. It’s one of his more annoying traits. And I assure you, my father would be highly offended hearing you classify him as an angel. He considers himself the first demon.”
Remi sighed heavily. “His pride…ever his downfall.”
“Stubbornness is ever yours.”
Remi gave Luke a gimlet stare. “Let ye who be without sin…”
“Oh, I’m casting that stone, brother. Just be happy that this time it’s not at your head.”
Tsking, Remi stepped back. “I shall leave you two to your business. Just be careful. We don’t know what we’re dealing with.” And with that, he looked about to make sure no one was watching them and vanished.
She shivered at his actions. “Does he do that often?”
“Yes, but generally not in public.”
“What about the we comment?” she asked. “You work with him a lot?”
“Not at all. He’s the archangel of hope who sometimes guides the souls of the faithful into Heaven.”
“Is that why he was here?”
Luke scowled at her. “You ask a lot of questions.”
She tapped the badge clipped to her waist. “Investigators usually do. Kind of goes with the whole detective territory.”
Snorting, he jerked his chin toward the body beside the family plot where the dog sat in eternal repose. Too bad she couldn’t ask it any questions. It would have seen everything that happened here.
“Remi said that no one had been dispatched to claim the girl and he didn’t detect her soul in any of the known realms.”
Now she was really confused. “What does that mean?”
“No soul. No psychopomp. No happy-ever-after or not-so-happy-ever-after…means something else took her soul, or worse, devoured it. And whatever it was is probably the one who killed her.”
“That’s disturbing.”
“More than you know. No one likes a soul-eater. On any side. It’s…unnatural.”
Sorcha made a face. “I would have thought they were among your father’s favorites.”
“Soul-stealer, yes. Soul-eater, hell no. Pun intended. My father makes it a source of pride to take every soul he can from the Creator. But to destroy one…that pisses off everyone. It’s absolutely senseless to waste a perfectly good soul, even an evil one. They all have their uses. And that use isn’t for food or destruction.”
In a weird way, that made sense.
Helly joined them. She was eating a large ice cream cone. “Are we done?”
“No,” they said in unison.
