The Angel of Death (The Soul Summoner Book 3) (40 page)

Just as I had no memory of being with Kasyade at the bank in Asheville, Sharvell Silvers had no memory of trying to kill us all with the M-4. Before she’d fallen under Phenex’s control, she and the other agents had been able to sever their restraints on the jagged rocks inside the cave. They had freed themselves at just about the time that Ysha was dragging me up the rocks. Silvers had found Warren’s rifle and shot Ysha in the face blowing us both off the rocks into the stream below.
 

Before the cops showed up, I healed her shoulder and, in front of all of them, brought Agent Voss back to life. He was in severe pain and completely freaked out, but he was alive.

Warren slipped an arm around my shoulders. “Are you all right?”

I leaned my head against his chest. “This was a terrifying day.”

“I agree.”

I looked up at him. “Kasyade wasn’t here, Warren. That means this still isn’t over.”

“I know,” he said. “But we’ll be ready for her next time.”

“Sloan?” Agent Silver asked behind us.

We turned to see her walking over from where the agents were loading up the helicopter. She had a thick file folder in her hand. She offered it to me when she was close enough.

“What is this?” I asked.

She crossed her arms. “It’s a copy of all the information I have on Abigail Smith.”

I raised it in my hand. “You realize it’s kind of worthless, right?”

“You might be surprised,” she said. “I’m fairly certain the young girl who…”

Warren’s head tilted. “Who took control of your mind and forced you to go full-blown Scarface on all of us?”

Her gaze fell to the ground. “Yes. I’m sure she’s in this information.”

“Interesting,” I said. “Thank you.”

After a moment, she glanced back up at me. “You were right.”

“About what?” I asked.

“You’re not who I thought you were,” she said.

I rocked back and forth on my heels. “I hope that means you won’t send me to prison.”

She shook her head. “No, I won’t. I’ll make sure the charges are dropped and the evidence against you is destroyed.”

I pointed across the camp to where Nathan was eating Skittles by the fire. “And what about Detective McNamara?”

She shrugged. “Maybe he was with his family for the holiday.”

I smiled. “Thank you.”

“No. Thank you.” She tapped the top of the file folder. “Let me know if you need any help. Just please find Abigail and the others.” She cut her eyes up at me. “And when you do, make sure you kill them.”

“I will.”

30.

All I wanted to do was go home and crawl into my bed, but a lot of business still had to be handled. A larger Claymore helicopter picked us up and flew us to Azrael’s headquarters in New Hope. Over dinner in his conference room, Azrael explained how he’d been fighting Abaddon when he felt Warren die. For the first time in three decades, the Archangel of Death was released from his confinement to this world, and he crossed the spirit line to find his son. He said in order to bring Warren back, Warren had to choose for his human spirit to be completely destroyed.

“You
chose
to come back?” I asked, putting my fork down.

He nodded. “Of course I did. I couldn’t leave you here alone.”

“I don’t understand.” I looked at Azrael. “How does that work?”

Azrael pushed his plate back and crossed his arms on the tabletop. “Human spirits are not able to come back into this world once they cross the spirit line.”

“Then how did Sloan bring me back?” Nathan asked before Azrael could continue.

“She brought you back before you crossed over,” he explained. “Because Warren is my son, he basically went straight to the front of the line and passed through before anything could stop him. Even if Warren hadn’t crossed the spirit line, Sloan would only have been able to recall his human spirit to his body, splintering him between both worlds. It would likely kill him, and if it didn’t we’d all be sorry he lived.”

That was what Samael had tried to explain to me on the battlefield.

“So what did you do to bring him back like this?” Nathan asked.

“As the archangel, I have the power to inflict the second death. I cannot destroy another angel, but I can completely obliterate a human soul.” Azrael seemed sickeningly pleased. “Without the hindrance of his humanity, Warren stepped fully into his power and is now able to pass freely between this world and my own.”

“Even with the baby? Isn’t he
bound
here, or whatever?” I asked, pointing to my own stomach.

Azrael shook his head. “I told you, your child is different.”

Nathan seemed confused. “But he was dead for maybe five minutes. How did you pull all that off?”

Warren looked at him. “Time does absolutely not work the same way on the other side. I felt like I was gone for hours.”

“Correct,” Azrael agreed.
 

“What was it like?” I asked Warren.

He leaned back in his chair and thought for a moment. “It really wasn’t that different than here. More peaceful maybe and definitely more beautiful. There was so much sunlight.” His voice had a note of wonder to it. “A lot happened that I can’t explain. Something really weird happened with my body.”

“Yeah,” Nathan said with a chuckle. “It was blown full of bullet holes.”

Warren shook his head. “No, after.” He looked to Azrael for an explanation.

“Your physical body evolved,” Azrael said. “Bullets will no longer be a problem.”

I raised my hand into the air. “But at what price?”

Azrael was obviously surprised by my question. “At the price of weakness,” he answered.

I was skeptical. “You keep saying that, but there must be something that makes us favored above the angels, right?” No one said anything. “Warren lost whatever that is. It’s got to be a pretty big deal.”

A muscle was working in Azrael’s jaw. “This was the only way.”

“And I appreciate that,” I said. “I’m just not naive enough anymore to believe that such a miracle won’t come with some consequences.”

Nathan knocked his knuckles against the table, then lifted his beer into the air. “Well, let’s not worry about it tonight. This day has sucked enough.” He looked at Warren. “For whatever reason, I’m glad you’re still here.”

All our eyes widened with surprise.

Grinning, Warren raised his glass. “Thanks, Nate. Even though we all know it’s a load of bullshit.”

Everyone burst out laughing.

* * *

Some things with Warren were definitely improved. I found that out the nice way when we went to bed in a private housing unit after dinner. Like Azrael, he didn’t really need to rest anymore. That had all kinds of benefits for both of us.
 

The next morning was Christmas, but it certainly didn’t feel like it. Azrael gave us an SUV to drive to Camp Lejeune so Warren could collect his things from the barracks and deal with his command. Azrael stayed behind to take care of some business, but he promised to see us before the new year.

Nathan and I spent an hour at a sports bar on base while we waited for Warren to return.

“Did you call your dad?” Nathan asked, pointing to an old pay phone.

I nodded. “I called him from Claymore when we got there, and I called him this morning to wish him a Merry Christmas. Did you call your family?”

He nodded. “Mom said to give you a hug and she invited you to come celebrate the new year with us.”

I smiled. “I love your family.”

“They love you too,” he replied.

“Have you checked in at work yet?” I asked.

Nathan sipped his beer. “Yeah, I called the sheriff last night. He asked if I was having a good vacation.”

“That was it?”

“That was it. He played completely ignorant of everything else.”

“Thank God. Did he say anything about Taiya?” I asked.
 

His face fell as he shook his head. “She escaped from the jail shortly after you did, but they haven’t seen her since. I will find her, I promise.” He tapped his fingers on the outside of his glass. “What did Azrael say about her?”

I sighed. “He said it’s true. She probably would have died when I killed Ysha.”

He frowned. “That sucks. I was starting to like her.”

I slouched in my seat. “I know.”

“Things will be very different when we get home,” he said.

I stared at the table. “About that…”

Nathan took a deep breath. “You’re going to marry him, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

He forced a smile. “Congratulations.”

“Will you forgive me?” I asked.

He reached over and squeezed my forearm. “There’s nothing to forgive. It’s how it should be.”

“Will you come to the wedding?”

“I wouldn’t miss it for anything.”

Just then, the front door chimed when Warren walked inside. He was smiling, but it quickly faded as he approached the table. “It looks like someone died. Everything OK?”

I nodded. “Yeah. How’d it go?”

He handed me a white envelope and put a plastic bag down on the table as he slid into the booth beside me.

“What’s this?” I asked, sliding the papers out.

“My discharge paperwork.”

I looked briefly at the papers and then back at him. “Does this mean you’re completely done?”

He nodded. “Completely finished.”

I sighed with relief.

“You’re officially out of the Marines?” Nathan asked.

“I’m out of the Marines,” Warren said.

Nathan cracked a smile over the rim of his glass. “That’s convenient now that you’re in the Lord’s Army.”

Warren narrowed his eyes and Nathan’s beer sloshed out across the front of his shirt.
 

“Damn it, Warren!” Nathan cursed, slamming the beer down on the table and grabbing a fistful of napkins.

I laughed and Warren winked at me.

Leaning back in my seat, I folded my hands over my stomach. “I see you’re not having any issues using your powers. It took me forever to learn how to do that.”

He grinned and stretched out his fingers. “I’ve gotten a bit better.”

Warren’s veiled modesty wasn’t fooling anyone. While we waited for him to return, Nathan and I had discussed at length what had happened in the woods. Without a mortal soul, there would be nothing to dilute Warren’s power. The thought was creepy but comforting when I considered Kasyade and Phenex were still out there somewhere.

I nodded toward the bag. “Did you buy me a present?”

His head snapped up. “Oh, I almost forgot.” He handed the bag to Nathan. “It’s actually for you. I found it at the MPX on base. Merry Christmas.”

Nathan’s eyes widened with curiosity as he accepted it. He reached into the bag and pulled out a small rectangle. His brow crumpled, and he scowled at Warren. “Really?”

Warren dropped his forehead onto the table and laughed harder than I had ever seen him laugh before. I held out my hand. “What is it?”

Nathan huffed and handed it to me. “It’s a patch for my hat.”
 

I turned the brown patch over in my hand. The front of it read,
REGULAR GUY
.

I covered my mouth with my hand and tried to suppress my chuckles. I wasn’t sure what was funnier: the patch or Warren so tickled over it.

Nathan smacked Warren across the back of his head. “Asshole.”

When Warren sat up, there were tears in his eyes from laughing. He held up his hands in defense. “Man, I’m only trying to help. Sloan told me you lost all your patches in the accident.”

Nathan held up his middle finger and drained the last of his beer.

Warren regained his composure and pulled the car keys from his pocket. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m beyond ready to go home.”

Home.
From his lips, the word had a nice new ring to it.

* * *

We said goodbye to Nathan in our driveway when we got home. He promised to work on getting Warren’s car out of impound and then bid us farewell with a cheesy, “I’ll see you next year.”

Even though we knew we’d see him again in the next couple of days, there was an odd finality to our waving goodbye from the front porch. Judging from Warren’s heavy sigh, he felt it too.

A glint in the sky caught my attention. I looked up to see the angels standing guard. I pointed. “Can you see them now?”

Warren followed the direction of my finger. Then he looked at me. “There are more than just those, babe. Angels are everywhere.”

I looped my arms around his neck. “I only need one.”

He smiled. “Speaking of that.” He reached into his jacket and pulled out a ring box. “Are you ready to wear this thing now?”

“You still want me to?” I asked, heat rising in my cheeks.

He flipped the box open. “Sloan, I never stopped.”

My hand trembled as he slid the diamond on my finger. “Will you marry me?” he asked.

Happy tears almost froze to my face. “Absolutely.” I stretched up on my tip-toes and kissed him. “I love you, Warren.”

He cradled my face in his strong hands. “I love you too.”

I squealed with glee as I held my hand up to watch the ring twinkle in the last rays from the pink sunset. “I want to go call Adrianne.”

He laughed and picked up our bags off the porch. “I expect no less, but you’d better hurry. We need to get to your dad’s.”

Without touching the front door, I unlocked it and we walked inside. Someone had left my phone plugged in and laying on the coffee table. I skipped across the room and picked it up.

On the screen I had eleven missed calls and more text messages than I could scroll through. But one of them caught my attention; it was a picture message time-stamped that morning.

I clicked it open.

The picture showed Taiya tied to a chair. Her blue eyes were open, but they were dangerously weak. Someone held out her arm toward the camera.
 

If found, please call Sloan Jordan.

THANK YOU FOR READING!