The Angel of Death (The Soul Summoner Book 3) (27 page)

His eyes whipped up to meet mine. “Really? I can’t feel anything.”

“I think it’s too soon. I never felt her before tonight.”

“Are you feeling OK? Have you been sick?” he asked.

I sighed. “Honestly, with all the drama, there’s not been much time for normal pregnancy stuff. But I’m healthy, and so is she, I think.”

“She,” he whispered.

Gripping his forearm with one hand, I pointed back to the restaurant with the other. Our party was watching us intently on the other side of the glass. “The guy next to Adrianne is Azrael.”

Warren’s shoulders dropped and his jaw slowly opened.

“He’s your father,” I said.

All the blood drained from Warren’s handsome face. He ran his fingers over his head, raking his hair back till it stood on end and then fell in different directions.

“He showed up a few weeks ago and has been taking care of me,” I said.

“How did he find you?” he asked, still staring at Azrael.

I tightened my grip on his arm. “He says he’s been watching you your entire life. He came straight here when he found out about the baby.”

Warren looked up at the sky and blew out a long sigh. “This is a lot to take in. A baby and a father in five minutes.”

“I’m sorry.” I tugged on his sleeve. “Let’s go meet him.”

His Adam’s apple bobbed with a hard swallow. He nodded. “OK.”

I’d never thought it was possible for Warren Parish to look nervous. I was wrong. Before we walked through the door, he pulled me to stop. “Do you trust him?” he asked. “We’ve not had such good luck with biological parents.”

“Well, he could have killed me plenty of times since he got here and he didn’t.” I shrugged. “He’s a bit unconventional, but he’s not like Kasyade.”

Warren relaxed. “Thank God.” He gazed through the window again. “Did he tell you anything about
my
mother?”

I laced my fingers between his and hesitated.

He looked down at me. “She’s dead, isn’t she?”

I nodded and squinted up at him. “How did you know?”

His eyes darted from mine. “Do you remember that I can see the number of people a person has killed?”

My shoulders sagged with the weight of the statement I knew he was about to make next. “Yes.”

“Every time I look in the mirror, I see one death I can’t account for.” He looked at the ground. “I’ve always wondered if somehow I killed her.”

I squeezed his hand. “There were complications when you were born. She loved you too much to be separated from you.”

His jaw was set, and he nodded stiffly, still not meeting my eyes.

I stretched up on my tip-toes and kissed his cool cheek. “Come on. Let’s go in.” I pushed the door open, and he followed me inside.

Azrael stood as we approached the table and when they were face to face, Azrael extended his hand. “Hello, Warren.”

When their hands touched, Warren straightened with a jolt.

Azrael’s lips spread into a thin smile. “It’s nice to finally meet you, son.”

Warren cleared his throat. “Uh…it’s nice to meet you too.” His tone wasn’t convincing. The pleasantry sounded like it needed a question mark at the end. Warren was studying his father’s face like he was preparing for a quiz, and Azrael was having one of those rare moments where he genuinely looked happy.

Realizing the two men were both too stunned or awkward to speak, Adrianne broke the silence by getting up and pushing her way in between them. She threw her arms around Warren’s neck. “Welcome home, Warren!”

He pulled back and smiled at her. “Thank you, Adrianne.” He reached back for my hand. “And thank you for being my co-conspirator in all this.”

“I’m just glad it all worked out so you could come. Sorry I couldn’t warn you about everything else.” She gestured between me and Azrael.
 

“I’m a little impressed you kept your mouth shut,” I said.

She put a hand on her hip. “You didn’t make it easy with all your moping around lately.”

My eyes flashed at her, and I bit down on the insides of my mouth. The last thing I wanted to discuss right then was my McNamara-induced funk.
 

Adrianne took the hint. “She’s been absolutely miserable without you, Warren.”

He pulled me under his arm and kissed the side of my forehead. “I know the feeling.”

I noticed the empty chair next to mine. “Where’s Taiya?”

“Who?” Warren asked.

My gaze followed the direction of Azrael’s finger across the room.

She was making her way across the dining room with a salad plate piled high with deviled eggs. I couldn’t help but smile.

Taiya froze when she looked up and saw Warren. Her cheeks flushed red and her hands went limp, spilling the eggs from her plate and sending them bouncing across the tiles. She dropped to her knees, crouching behind the tablecloth of an empty table near us.

“Taiya?” I called out.

She gathered up a few scattered eggs and peeked between the tables at us.

“
Por ata dova, Taiya,
” Azrael called out. “
Misha forste Warren.
”

The surrounding patrons were mortified. Either by Azrael’s strange language or probably by the grown woman crawling under the tables of the four-star establishment.

“
Por ata dova,
” Azrael said again.

“What’s going on?” Warren whispered in my ear.

I pointed to Taiya. “She’s a little skittish.”

“Who is she?” Warren asked.

I sighed. “She’s a long story. Her name is Taiya. She’s Seramorta like us.”

His head snapped back. “Really?”

“Yeah. She showed up in town around Thanksgiving,” I said, purposefully omitting a lot of details. “She’s the daughter of one of Kasyade’s cohorts named Ysha. She’s with us now. I think.”

“Kasyade has cohorts?” The alarm in his voice was obvious.

“Two of them, unfortunately.” I looked up at him. “We have a lot to talk about.”

“I’ll say.”
 

“Be right back.” I walked down the aisle, picking up stray eggs as I passed them. When I reached the last table before the salad buffet station, I lifted the skirt of the tablecloth and peeked under it. “Taiya.”

She was hiding her red face behind her hands.

“What are you doing under here?” I asked.

She shook her head wildly.

I reached under for her arm. “Come on. Come meet Warren.”

“
Keshtaka mi noviombre uta.
”

I had no idea what she was saying. “Come on,” I said again. “You’ll love him.”

“Love him,” she softly echoed.

“That’s right.” My fingers found her wrist. Gently, I pulled her out from under the table.

As she stood upright, she swiped an egg off the floor and stuffed it into her mouth before I could stop her. I almost puked on my shoes. I steered her by the shoulders back to our table, apologizing to each table on the way for the scene we’d created.

Taiya pushed back against me when we got closer to Warren.

I looked over his shoulder. “Taiya, this is Warren.”

“Hello,” he said, offering her his hand.

She tugged the collar of her shirt up over her face and squealed.

Adrianne giggled. “Look at her. She’s totally crushing on him.”

“Of course she is,” I said. “He’s beautiful.”

Warren rolled his eyes.

Azrael pointed at Warren. “She’s probably been told her whole life that she’ll be with him, remember?”

“What?” Warren asked.

My heart sank. “Oh, that’s sad.” I looked at Warren. “You’ll have to let her down easy.”

Warren tossed his hands into the air. “What the hell are you guys talking about?”

Adrianne walked around the table and took Taiya’s hand. “I’m going to go fix her a plate while you start explaining to your poor boyfriend what all is going on.” She looked over at Warren. “I hope you brought something to take notes with.”

Azrael and I took turns filling Warren in on the details about Taiya, Ysha, and Phenex. I told him about the FBI investigating me and about Azrael pulling me out of the river. Azrael spoke about the angel world and about teaching me to use my powers. We talked about the baby and the demon’s plan to kill me in the summer. By the time I finished my chocolate mousse, Warren’s head was resting in his hands with his elbows propped up on the table.

I squeezed his knee under the table. “I’m sure this overload isn’t what you had planned for tonight.”

He looked up and chuckled. “I really expect no less from you, my dear.” He crossed his arms on the tabletop. “I do have another question though.”

“What?” I asked.

“Where’s Nate?”

My mouth snapped shut. Adrianne stopped chewing. Azrael’s face was set like stone. Taiya was swirling ketchup into her mashed potatoes.

Warren glanced around the table. “OK, this can’t be good. Where is he?”

There was another beat of awkward silence.

“Ice fishing!” Adrianne blurted out.

We all looked at her.

“He went on an ice fishing trip to…” She looked at Azrael for help.

“Alaska?” Azrael said.

Adrianne nodded. “Yes. Alaska.”

Now it was my turn to want to crawl under the table.

Warren raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Alaska?”

“He won a trip on the radio,” Adrianne added.

Oh, geez.
It wasn’t any wonder that we never got away with breaking curfew in high school.
 

It was obvious that Warren was debating calling us all out at the table or trusting that our lie was with good reason. He pointed across the room. “I’m going to go get some more prime rib. Anybody need anything?”

I slouched in my chair. “No, thank you.”

He was still eyeing me curiously as he got up from the table.

When he was out of earshot, I glared at Adrianne. “Ice fishing? Really?”

She held up her hands. “It’s the first thing that popped into my head.”

Groaning, I buried my face in my hands.
 

Adrianne smacked me across the top of my head. “Don’t you dare spoil his first night back with your guilty conscience.”

Knowing the Angel of Death would have a strong opinion, I turned my gaze to him.
 

Azrael shook his head. “She’s right. He’s been through enough tonight. Wait till tomorrow, but you’d better tell him soon. This kind of news only festers with time.”

When Warren returned with his second plate of beef and mashed potatoes, I was anxious to avoid revisiting the subject of Nathan’s phony fishing trip. “Can you tell us now where you’ve been?”

Warren scanned the room, then lowered his voice. “We were right about them sending me after the terrorist in Lebanon.” He looked over at me. “But we were wrong about him being a demon. He was dead.”

“Really?” I asked.

Warren nodded. “And he’d been dead for quite a while when I found him. They believe he was killed by a US drone months ago.”

Adrianne seemed confused. “Why would they send you across the world for a dead guy?”

Warren sliced into his meat. “They weren’t a hundred percent sure they’d killed him since his terrorist organization keeps releasing propaganda with his name and picture on it. Now that the US has his body, the organization loses a lot of their power.”

I drummed my nails on the tabletop. “It seems strange they would send you of all people in the military.”

Warren shrugged. “I found all those bodies Billy Stewart hid in the mountains. I guess they figured I knew what I was doing.”

“Will they discharge you now?” Azrael asked.

Warren nodded. “This week I’ll process out. They said we’ll be back home by Christmas Eve.”

“And be done for good?” I asked, perking up in my seat.

He reached over and squeezed my hand. “And be done for good.”

* * *

When dinner was finished, the five of us walked out to the parking lot. Warren tried to put his arm around me as we ducked into the cold, but Taiya wedged herself between us and held onto my arm. When he tried to talk to her, she giggled and slipped around my back to my other side. It was adorable, and a little sad.

“Did you drive here?” I asked as we neared Adrianne’s car.

He pointed to a gray sedan parked at the end of the row. “I rented a car this morning.”

I split a glance between Adrianne and Azrael. “I want to ride with Warren, so we’ll see you at the house.”

Warren’s hand tightened around mine. “No you won’t.”

I looked up at him. “I won’t?”

He laughed. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to have you all to myself for tonight. I’ve made other plans.
Private
plans.”

My heart quickened at the thought.

Azrael shook his head. “That’s not possible.”

Warren’s brow lifted, and he was trying and almost succeeding at suppressing the smirk on his face. “No offense,
Dad
, but I didn’t ask you.”

I bit down on the insides of my lips.

Adrianne’s eyes widened.

Azrael took a step toward his son. It was creepy how much they looked alike. “Warren, things are not the same as you left them. Sloan is in danger and she needs—”

Warren held up his hand. “I’ll be the judge of what she needs. Tonight, she’s spending with me, so you might as well save your breath.”

The two stared at each other with so much intensity I worried one or both of their heads might start smoking at any second.

Warren finally pointed at Adrianne. “She knows where to find us if there’s an emergency, and we won’t be too far from home.”

The muscles around Azrael’s eyes softened just enough to make it clear he knew he’d lost the argument. He looked at me. “Keep your phone on. If the weather changes or if you dream, call me at once.”

Warren pulled me close. “I don’t intend on letting her sleep.”

There was a small squeak in the back of my throat, and I hid my face behind my hands.

“I mean it,” Azrael snapped.

Still cringing with embarrassment, I nodded. “I promise.”

Warren wrapped his hand around mine and pulled me in the direction of his car before anyone could say anything else.

“You two have fun!” Adrianne called after us.

I waved back over my shoulder.

When we got to the car, Warren opened my door. “Is he always like that?”