Lucca (16 page)

Barachiel slipped into the booth’s seat
opposite him as if he’d been invited to do so. “Fancy meeting you
here.” His full lips curved.

Like hell this is a chance meeting
.
“Let’s skip the sweet talk and tell me why you’re sitting at my
booth.”

Barachiel’s smile fell and his light
yellowish-green eyes glowed like fire orbs, barely resembling eyes
at all.

Lucca didn’t flinch. Let him take him out.
Then this earthbound torment would be over, but it seemed Barachiel
had other plans. His eyes cooled and he sat back in the booth, at
least feigning cordial politeness. “You’ve been asking questions.”
When Lucca didn’t answer, he elaborated. “About Leroy Fennings’
death.”

“Yeah, whoever killed him, seemed to enjoy
it a bit too much if you ask me. Thought it a good idea to find out
who it was and eliminate him.”

Barachiel didn’t flinch. So maybe the boy’s
upstairs didn’t take out Leroy as he first thought, but he couldn’t
think of what other being had as much power.

“Leroy was a Time Guardian,” Barachiel said,
as if this answered all questions.

He knew there were Time Guardians, but he
hadn’t known Leroy was one of them. Of course Leroy wouldn’t
announce it with a calling card. If no one knew who the Time
Guardians were, they couldn’t be coerced into opening a portal. Is
that what had happened? Had someone discovered Leroy’s secret? “So,
Leroy had a day job. What of it?” He sure hoped he didn’t have to
drag out every word or this would take all night.

“Time Guardians are of the Apparitions
hierarchy. They aren’t corporeal to this realm without a host.”

Lucca shifted in his seat. Leroy possessing
some poor soul didn’t sit well with him. He had rather liked the
old guy.

“When an Apparition is threatened,”
Barachiel continued. “He must break free of the host.”

That explained why the body looked like it
exploded. “Are you telling me one of you guys came down and freed
Leroy?”

Barachiel nodded. “It was either one of us
or Kasadya, and believe me, his way would be far worse.”

He couldn’t imagine how. Leroy’s death or
expulsion looked agonizing. “Last I heard, only Archangels
possessed this special fire source, so how would Kasadya manage the
feat?”

For a beat of an angel’s wing, Barachiel’s
features lost its shield, but it had been too quick and Lucca
didn’t know what he saw flickering behind the Archangel’s eyes.
Fear, perhaps. “There were Archangels who fell.”

He let the words hang there, letting Lucca
come to his own conclusion. Archangels who fell? Like Lucifer?
There were other Archangels besides him. When Lucca remained
silent, Barachiel filled in the obvious blanks.

“The Five Satans.”

He let out a low whistle of disbelief. The
Fallen heard the stories of the Five Satans, but it never crossed
his mind they’d been Archangels. “But I thought they were banished
to the deepest realms of Hell. What are you saying? Are you telling
me they’re loose?”

“One of them. Kasadya. It is feared Kasadya
wants to access the portals so he can free the other four.”

“Please tell me Leroy didn’t give up his
secrets.” Lucca made a growling sound in the back of his throat in
exasperation. “Shouldn’t your binding spells be tougher than
that?”

Barachiel’s murderous glare returned. Lucca
was thrilled to know he could bring the best out in the Archangel.
“Arizul, your father is who released Kasadya,” he bit out the
words, all but accusing Lucca as well for the deceit.

Lucca sat still. Sick fear coiled in his
stomach like a live snake ready to strike. He sensed his father’s
presence, the niggling at the base of his neck in warning when
Kordon had attacked him and tonight at Eli’s. It hadn’t been his
imagination then. He shook his head. “Why would my father let one
of the Satans loose?”

“We thought you would know.”

He choked out a laugh of disbelief. “I
haven’t seen my father in centuries. Why would I know what the evil
bastard is doing?”

Barachiel tilted his head to the side,
staring at Lucca with curiosity. “Did Arizul not nurture you, teach
you the ways of the world?”

“My father?” Lucca’s voice rose, the snarl
of anger nearly taking over. He leaned forward, resting his elbows
on the table. All sounds in the bar ceased to exist as the roaring
in his ears took over. “My father hated me. Nurtured? No, he didn’t
take me under his wing and guide me,” the sarcasm cut like a knife,
making Barachiel flinch. “I think we’re through here.” He moved to
leave.

“No, we’re not.” Barachiel’s low voice spoke
as a command.

As Lucca tried to stand, but he found his
limbs wouldn’t obey. He glared at Barachiel, fury raging in him
like a fire out of control. If he possessed the ability to blast
fire from his eyes, Barchiel would be a pile of ash right now. When
he could only imagine the deed, it pissed him off more. “What do
you want?” A sick dawning made him panic, but he forced it away.
“Am I the next host for your Apparition? Trust me, I won’t vacate
my body without a fight.” Funny, how only minutes before he thought
Barachiel ending his life would be a good idea. Well, it was when
it was
his
idea.

“You do have an active imagination.
Apparitions do not inhabit the Nephilim. They take a human within
minutes of their natural death. As the soul vacates the body, the
Apparition moves in. The body continues housing the Apparition
without pause.”

“And here I was thinking perhaps the Choir
boys were into possessions like some of the lesser demons.”

Barachiel didn’t answer, but a flash of
light behind his irises told him his comparison ticked him off.
“Enough with the small talk,” he said. “I have a proposition for
you.” With a wave of his hand, he released his hold on Lucca.

Lucca fell against the back of the seat. “Is
that so? You’ve insulted me. You’ve held me against my will. What
makes you think I’d be interested in anything you have to say?”

Barachiel’s lips curved. “I had to know
where you stood with your father, and trust me you’ll be interested
in what I have to offer.”

Lucca didn’t like it one bit. The cheesy
smile only meant Barachiel had something to offer he wouldn’t want
to refuse. He was so screwed.

“We’re willing to give you back your wings
if you do us a little favor.”

There was no such thing as little favors
with the Archangels. These Angels were
don’t-make-a-deal-with-them
kind of Angels that is if you
wanted to keep your wings from being singed or plucked right out of
your back like a chicken ready for roasting. However, he didn’t
have wings at the moment and curiosity egged him on to be an eegit.
“What’s the favor?”

Again Barachiel’s lips curved, but the smile
didn’t reach his canary colored eyes. He had a hunch the favor
didn’t involve taking a niece to the opera kind of favor. “We’re
looking for two people,” he said. “Humans.”

Lucca’s brows rose with surprise. He had
believed Archangels could find anyone or anything if they put their
minds to it. Interesting little tidbit to be tucked away. Again
instead of his tongue minding its own business, words flew from his
mouth forming the question. “If these two people fell off your
radar, how do you expect me to find them?” He sipped his beer,
noticing the room had resumed its normal clamor, ignoring them
completely. Even the three blonde Barbie looking women lost
interest in the beautiful male sitting across from him.

“You’re tight with the Hashasheen
demons.”

“That’s one way of putting it.” He didn’t
mention they’d rather kill him than talk to him, but they’d have to
get in line. As for helping him find two humans, the Hashasheens
were liable to cut his tongue out, cook it over an open fire before
they decided to slit his throat. Yeah, they were real tight. “Are
the Hashasheen demons holding the humans?” He couldn’t figure out
Barachiel’s angle here. Shouldn’t he be worried about the Satan
roaming the earth’s realm knocking off Time Guardians? What could
the humans have done?”

“The Hashasheen demons have something we
want back that will aid us in finding the time travelers.”

“Are you saying the humans time traveled
here? But that’s impossible unless…” Dawning spread through him
like fire, warning him this wasn’t good. Humans couldn’t time
travel without help, the ability to time travel was lost to the
humans. If one managed to break through the veils of time, it was
purely by accident not design. “I take it one of your pals went
rogue.” He had a hunch he knew which one, but he’d let Barachiel
have the honors revealing the traitor.

Barachiel’s eyes glowed again, anger of
being betrayed by his own kind obviously rankled him. “Yes, Raziel
has overstepped his bounds and has taken it upon himself to aid the
humans. The disruption your father created, along with Raziel’s
time jump has put the timeline off kilter. It needs to be set right
again.”

His father always had been obsessed with the
timeline and events, but his siding with a Satan threw him off. His
father liked to be in control, not
be
controlled. He highly
doubted the Satan would give his father full reign. Still his
father’s betrayal wasn’t as much of a surprise as Raziel’s
unorthodox move. Why would Raziel risk such an offense? What was so
important about the humans?

“Do we have a deal?” Barachiel pushed.

Striking a deal with an Archangel was as
binding as striking a deal with Lucifer. Then again, Lucifer had
once been an Archangel before his wings were cut from his flesh. He
heard the demon sprouted bat-like wings of some sort instead of his
refined featherlike beauty he’d been known for. Rumors could be
wildly exaggerated but he had no wish to confirm the claim one way
or the other. “Who are the humans?”

Barachiel sat back in his seat with a smug
look of triumph. His face was all angles of beauty as the light
shone on him. Too bad his personality sucked or he’d have the
females wanting him, but of course it was beneath an Archangel to
mingle with the lower beings on earth. “You don’t have to worry
about the humans. We’ll take care of them when the time comes.”

Which translated: Not only did he not know
where
the humans were, he didn’t know
who
they were.
“Who takes care of my father and his evil partner?”

“You won’t have to worry about them either.
All we need you to do is retrieve Raziel’s
Book of
Magic
.”

Raziel’s book? Lucca kept his emotions in
check, shielding his surprise behind his mug of beer. He sipped his
beer slowly more to irritate Barachiel than out of any enjoyment.
He placed his mug down on the table. “Just so I understand this
correctly: You want me to retrieve the
Book of Magic
all in
exchange for having my wings back?”

“That’s the deal.” The Archangel nodded.

“The Hashasheen demons aren’t going to just
hand over the book. What makes you believe they have it
anyway?”

“Let’s just say, I’ve heard it on good
authority.”

Too bad his informant was wrong, but he
wasn’t going to volunteer the information. Lucky for him, he did
know where the
Book of Magic
was hidden or at the very
least, the last place it had been. If all went well, he could
retrieve the book, hand it over to
Mr. Charming
here, and
have his wings back all before the end of the week. Easy enough;
what did he care about two humans on the run? If the retrieval of
the book got rid of his father, all the better. The Archangel could
do what he wanted as long as he kept up his end of the bargain. He
met Barachiel’s gaze. “Deal.”

Before he could decipher what the Archangel
was about, Barachiel leaned forward and clasped both his forearms
in a grip he couldn’t break.

“What the hell?”

Barachiel eyes took on the weird glow again,
bright sunlight yellow, like a blaze from the star itself.
Barachiel’s right hand glowed too, the warmth seeping into Lucca’s
skin, burning like he was being cooked alive from the inside out.
He couldn’t move, couldn’t break away until the bastard let him
go.

He flew back hard against the booth’s
headboard. He rubbed his forearm, expecting to see his flesh burned
away to the bone, but his skin wasn’t charred. It wasn’t smooth
flesh anymore either. His gaze riveted to Barachiel’s. “Though your
artistic flare is to be commended, I don’t believe I asked for a
tattoo.” The bluish tattoo of spirals reminded him of the ancient
Celts’ designs etched in stone.

Barachiel gave him a weird-half cocked
smile, chilling his blood. “I’ve made a type of bond with you.”

“Excuse me? I’m not into males and no
bonding ritual is going to change that.”

Barachiel chuckled at his panic. “Don’t be
absurd. Touch the tattoo and demand my presence and I’ll find you
immediately. Think of the bonding as a tracking device. So if have
any inclination to double cross me, I’ll be able to locate you. The
tattoo works both ways.” He stood now, towering over him. His power
radiated from him like fire burning in a hearth. “I’ll give you
until the end of the week. Believe me, if you betray me, you won’t
want me to find you.”

Of that, Lucca had no doubt.

Chapter Twenty-One

Eli sat across from Chaziekal, or Chaz for
short. He was one of the appointed Grigori elders of the
twenty-first century. Chaz’s strands of hair gleamed like golden
silk from the firelight that blazed from the hearth. The gray in
his dark wings glittered with a silver sheen.

The Watchers owned the castle-like structure
in the Otherworldly realm—with stonewalls and dungeon, too—not that
they’d used the dungeon in a millennium. They took their leisure in
the library where the ancient tomes written by the Grigori lined
the shelves of the bookcases from floor to ceiling