"It's been a long time, Ramiel," Blake commented.
The man known as Ramiel frowned, and a shudder swept through me. I didn't just watch the person's reaction. I felt his displeasure run through me. And when he spoke it was like the thunder of a thousand small bells ringing all at once.
"Whatever transgression you seek to perform will not bring fruit," Ramiel warned Blake.
Blake folded his arms over his chest and shrugged. "Maybe, but don't you think it's a little hypocritical for a Fallen to scold someone for transgressing?"
I jumped when someone grabbed my upper arms from behind. I whipped my head around and found it was Jenny. Her face was pale and she blinked against the light from the stranger.
"We need to go," she whispered.
"I'm afraid I can't allow that," Blake interrupted us. Ramiel's eyebrows crashed down and a frown graced his lips. The anger chilled me to my bones and made me shiver. Blake's eyes fell back on his newest 'guest,' and he chuckled. "Don't be so horribly jealous, old friend. I won't allow you to leave, either."
"Do not meddle with me and my own," Ramiel warned him.
Blake stiffened and his eyes widened. A sly grin slowly spread across his lips. His eyes flickered to me and back to Ramiel as they lit up with an understand.
"You've done it then, haven't you, Ramiel?" Blake whispered.
A chuckle escaped his lips, but he couldn't keep back his mirth. Blake burst into a laugh that echoed around the destroyed room. He slapped his hand over his forehead and tilted back his head in a fit of mad glee. Jenny pulled me against her, and even Keres stepped away from her boss.
"Ramiel! Oh Ramiel! You sentimental fool!" Blake cried out.
Ramiel's eyes narrowed and I felt a wave of displeasure sweep over the room. Blake dropped his hand and shook his head. "No, Ramiel, that won't do. Someone has to tell you how foolish you were to bed with a human. Didn't you learn from your last mistake?"
"I will remedy that at this moment," Ramiel replied.
Ramiel raised a hand so the palm faced outward towards Blake. A beam of light shot out from his palm and flew at Blake.
"Blake! Move!" Keres cried out.
Blake merely pulled down the collar of his shirt. A dark shadow flew out and slammed into the light. The collision shook the walls and blew a sharp blast of wind over the room. Jenny stepped between the wind and me, and blocked me from the splattering of broken glass, dust, and torn pages from the books.
I glanced through her arms and saw Ramiel lower his hand. For the first time the stranger showed signs of surprise on his face. The shadow from Blake shifted into the form of a Phantom. The creature returned to Blake and floated beside him. My first good look at the shadowy creature told me something wasn't right about it. The usual red eyes were blue, and its form was even darker than other Phantoms. Its body was so black I felt a pull as though it was a black hole trying to suck me in.
Blake chuckled. "You've grown weaker since we last fought, Angel of Hope, while I have grown stronger," he scolded Ramiel.
Jenny raised her head and glared at the men. "How about you two go outside and destroy each other?" she snapped.
"Not before I've had my turn," Blake protested.
He snapped his fingers. The Phantom beside him arched high into the air and plunged downward toward the other man. Ramiel's eyes narrowed and he held up his arms above him so they crossed. A burst of light flew up around him in the shape of a round barrier. The Phantom slammed into the barrier. The light barrier cracked. The Phantom slammed its clawed hand into the light, and the whole thing shattered.
The remains of the light barrier flew in all directions. Wherever they landed they exploded into millions of dazzling, sparkling pieces of light. The room erupted in sparkles that blinded my good eye, but my blue one could see clearly.
What it didn't see what the person who grabbed Jenny and me from behind and swung us over their shoulders. Our new kidnapper turned tail and rushed us out into the hallway.
"Hey!" I protested.
"Quiet!" a familiar voice ordered me. Ian.
I twisted in his grasp and saw the familiar head of hair and filthy overcoat. "What the hell took you?" I scolded him.
"Stop squirming and hang on!" he hissed as we sped down the hall. All the Whisperers had obeyed Blake's orders, so the place was empty now. "Cronus' plan isn't working out so well, so we need to get you two out of here before things get worse."
I blinked at him. "Cronus' plan? What plan?"
"He's the distraction, I'm the hero, now be a good damsel and stop squirming!" Ian insisted.
"But what's going-" A tremor swept past us. The house shook and the paintings on the walls rattled.
"Less talk and more run!" Jenny spoke up.
"Yes, ma'am!" Ian agreed.
He picked up the pace and flew us out a side entrance to the house. The door abutted a rear driveway, and parked on the driveway was Ian's car. He dumped us into the back seat and jumped into the driver's seat. Jenny and I extracted ourselves from one another and I righted myself to poke my head between the two front seats.
"Where the hell is Cronus?" I questioned him.
Dozens of beams of light burst from the roof and lit up the night sky like an expensive fireworks display. The beauty was marred by Phantoms that flew among the sparkles and dimmed the lights. The shadows chased after and fought the beams as though they were living creatures.
The clash of light and dark was still going when we reached the stone wall and slammed through a rear gate. We bounced onto the road and away from the light show. I watched it until the trees and distance covered the sky from my view.
Jenny leaned forward and glared at Ian. "What about Cronus?" she asked him.
"We agreed to meet later," Ian replied.
"So we're just leaving him?" she wondered.
"You want to get between those two?" he returned. Jenny pursed her lips, but fell back against the seat.
I glanced from one to the other. "Between those two? What the hell does that mean? Was Cronus there?" Jenny and Ian averted their eyes from mine. I frowned. "What the hell's going on? Who the hell was that Ramiel guy?"
Ian sighed. "Ramiel is Cronus."
I blinked at him. "Come again?"
"For the love of Christ, just spit it out!" Jenny demanded of him.
"If you want to tell her, fine, but I'm still bound by my promise to him," Ian told her.
"Fine, I will!" she agreed. She turned to me and looked me in the eyes. "Cronus isn't a mystic. He's an angel."
I tilted my head to one side and raised an eyebrow. "How hard did your sister hit you?"
She rolled her eyes. "I'm not brain-damaged. Cronus is a Fallen Angel. You know, the kind that walks among humans."
I shook my head. "I don't remember that part of the Bible."
"It's more in the Apocrypha stuff, but it's there," she assured me.
I looked to Ian. "Is she telling the truth?"
Jenny sighed. "Listen, you remember the blood I used for my divination? The stuff Cronus wanted? A witch needs angel blood to see the future. I got his blood to do that. That's why he wanted it back so bad. He's a little touchy about being seeing the future with his life energy."
I leaned back and tried to take in what she was telling me. I ran my hand through my hair and shook my head. "So let me get this straight. Cronus is an angel?"
"Yes," Jenny agreed.
"And he's among humans because he's fallen?"
"Yep."
"So why the hell hasn't he used that power of his before to save our asses?" I asked her.
"If his blood could tell the future, think how much his hair and eyes would go for on the Black Market," she pointed out. "That bitch Lilith would have a field day of sales if she found out what he was."
"And what does he have to do with me?" I wondered. "That Blake guy looked at me and Cronus-or whatever the hell his name is-like there was something between us."
Ian glanced at us through the r
ear view mirror. "What something?"
I shrugged. "I don't know. Something about mating. . .with a. . ." My voice faded as a sudden realization struck me.
Jenny studied me, and her voice was soft and low. "You told Lilith your dad left your mom. Did you ever know him?"
I stared at the floor as my eyes widened and my pulse quickened.
Jenny touched my arm and leaned down to catch my eyes. "Enid, who's your dad?"
I slowly shook my head. "I-I don't know. I never met him."
"I think that's enough," Ian spoke up.
Jenny lifted her head and glared at him. "I think she deserves to know the truth."
"Then she's going to have to wait. The only guy who knows everything is back there covering our asses," Ian pointed out as he jerked his thumb behind us. "So stop jumping to conclusions and wait until we get home."
CHAPTER 11
My mind was a tornado of conflicting thoughts and doubts. Cronus just couldn't be my dad. I was just a normal human. Well, mystic. Besides, he looked way too young. He'd have to look at least forty-five to be my parent.
"There's no way. . ." I whispered.
Jenny sat in sullen silence beside me, and Ian drove us down the road and never once not exceed the speed limit. We reached the house at just before five. It'd been a hell of a night, and it wasn't over. I let Jenny help me into the house. My legs were as muddled as my mind and I couldn't seem to focus on anything around me.
"Take her into the front room," Ian ordered her.
"I think she needs to-"
"Take her into the front room," he insisted.
Jenny pursed her lips, but guided me to my usual spot on the couch while she plopped herself beside me. Ian set to work reviving the coals in the fire. When he finished his job he lit a cigarette and turned to us.
"I promised Cronus I wouldn't tell anyone about what he was, but I can tell you that when he comes back-"
"You mean 'if,'" Jenny corrected him as she glared up at Ian. "Blake didn't get to be the head of the Whisperers by being a pushover."
"When Cronus comes back, go up and see him," Cronus finished. "He's outed himself, so he might be more willing to talk-" We all jumped when the back door opened and slammed shut.
Footsteps shuffled down the hall. A disheveled shadow of Cronus' former self came into view and grasped the banner of the stairs. His clothes were back to their normal style, but with a grunge look added by the tears and singed holes.
Ian strode past us and grabbed Cronus before his partner collapsed to the floor. "Jesus, Cronus. What the hell did he do to you?"
"Upstairs," Cronus croaked.
Ian hefted Cronus' arm over his shoulders and glanced over his shoulder at us. "You two stay here."
I stood. "But-"
"Stay here," he repeated.
Ian helped Cronus up the stairs and in a few moments were heard a door shut. I resumed my seat and clasped my head in my hands.
Jenny sat her hand on my back and sighed. "Maybe we're reading too much into this, honey. Maybe Cronus knows who your angel dad is."
I cringed and looked up at her. "My dad's really an angel?"
She nodded at my blue eye. "That's all the proof anyone in the know needs to see."
I reached up and touched the eye. "You called it something."
"God's Eye. You know how some people say the eyes are a window to the soul?" I nodded. "Well, the eyes of angels are a window to God. When someone tries to look into them that shouldn't be looking, like Blake, then they regret it real fast."
"A window to God?" I whispered.
"Yep. It's a bit like a doorway to heaven, and some legends have it that if a strong enough person looks into them then they're taken to heaven," she told me. She leaned back and shrugged. "But it might just be a legend. Cronus never would tell me what was true or not."
"How'd you find out he was an angel?" I asked her.
She chuckled. "He and I got into a scrape with some tough Phantoms. Not one of those controlled by the Whisperers, but some wild bunch that haunted an area for a couple of hundred years. The old ones are the worst kind. Well, we got in over our heads and he didn't have much of a choice. He sparked up and blasted them away. Of course, I knew angel blood could tell the future, so I managed to sneak some from our fight." She gave me a wink. "It's come in plenty useful sometimes, like when I knew the Whisperers were-" She paused when we both heard the upstairs door shut.
A single pair of footsteps walked down the hall and Ian reappeared at the bottom of the stairs. His face was grim. Jenny and I stood.
"He's okay, isn't he?" Jenny asked him.
Ian strode past us and set a hand on the mantel. "Yeah, but I've never seen him this torn up. Whatever that Blake guy did to him, he did it well." Ian's eyes flickered to me. "Cronus wants to see you."
I swallowed the lump in my throat and nodded. Jenny gave my hand a squeeze and smiled.
"Just don't kill him until I've got more of his blood," she teased.
I couldn't even return her smile as I walked past her and upstairs. The hallway was quiet as my footsteps tapped against the wood floor. I arrived at the door and knocked.
"Enter," came Cronus' voice.
I slipped into the room. The space was spartan. There was a bed with white sheets, a dresser, and a small desk with two chairs. Cronus sat in one of those chairs and faced the door. He wore a new change of clothes, but I could see the cuts and gashes on his hands and cheeks. I shut the entrance behind me and walked over to the chair which sat close beside his.
He nodded at vacant chair. "Sit."
I took the seat and watched him watch me out of the corner of his eyes. My blue eye never blinked. Neither did his.
"What do you know?" he asked me.
I shrugged. "Jenny says I'm an angel, and by what I got from Blake he thinks we're related." I leaned close to him and studied his face. He didn't look a bit like me except for my new blue eye. "Are we?"
Cronus' eyes flickered away from me and he stared straight ahead. "The truth is you are my daughter."
My pulse quickened and my hands grasped my jeans. "You're. . .you're serious?" I stuttered.
He turned to face me with as serious a face as I'd ever seen. "I do not joke about such matters."
I leaned back in my chair and stared hard at the floor. "My. . .my dad? You're seriously my dad?"
"I am."
I lifted my head and studied him. "But you don't look a thing like me."
"This is not my original form, nor is it the one I took when I met your mother," he explained.
"How long did you know I was your daughter?" I questioned him.
"I never forgot."
My eyebrows crashed down. "You knew all the time I was your daughter, and you didn't tell me?"
"Yes."
I balled my hands into fists. "So you were what? Waiting for the right time to break it to me?"
"It was never my intention to tell you at all," he revealed.
"Why not? Couldn't stand a daughter that wasn't your perfect-" He whipped his head to me and I flinched.
A wave of displeasure emanated from him and washed over me. The emotion was overpowering. His cold blue eyes narrowed.
"It was never my intention to tell you because I did not wish for you to be involved," he expanded.
I fought against his strong will and jumped to my feet. "I'd hate to break it to you, but your stupid decision hasn't done a thing to protect me! Maybe if I knew about. . .about us then maybe I could've done something different-"
"There was nothing you could do," he interrupted.
I glared at him. "How would you know? You never gave me a chance! You never gave us a chance!"
"It was to protect you!" he boomed.
I stumbled back. A halo of light surrounded him, and his blue eyes shone with a fury not seen in man. The vision in my blue eye burst back into being and I could see him as he'd looked at the mansion. That terrifying picture of angelic anger.
Cr
onus turned his face away from me and shut his eyes. The glow around him faded to nothing and he resumed his seat. His skin was pale and his hands shook before he hid them beneath the table. He looked old and tired.
Cronus sighed and shook his head. His voice was a shadow of his usual self-confident manner.
"You could not know. No one was to learn of your heritage. The danger was too great to your mother and yourself," he whispered.
"And now what? You're going to keep ignoring me?" I questioned him.
"I will not."
"So what do I do?"
He shook his head. "I do not know."
My face fell. I turned my back on him and walked towards the door, but paused with my hand on the knob. I didn't turn around when I spoke. "Tell me when you give enough of a damn to help me. Then we'll talk."
Then I left.
CHAPTER 12
I walked downstairs and into the front room. Jenny and Ian were still where I left them on the couch and beside the fire. I plopped down in my usual spot and managed a smile at my friends.
"You heard everything?" I asked them.
"All of your part, and some of his," Ian admitted.
I clutched my head in my hands and set my elbows on my legs so I could lean forward.
"This is some sort of joke, isn't it? I'm just human, right?" I choked back a sob. "It was hard enough being a mystic, but this. . .this is too much."
"Cronus doesn't have enough humor in him to crack a joke, much less make one this horrible," Ian commented.
"Not helping," Jenny hissed. She scooted over and set her hands on my shoulders. "It's not the end of the world, Enid. So you're something else. That doesn't change who you are."
I snorted and lifted my head. Tears streaked my cheeks as I looked into her concerned face. "That's easy for you to say. You're not the one being hunted because of your dad."
She nodded her head to the side. "I did sort of ask for my trouble-"
"You walked into it," Ian spoke up.
Jenny whipped her head up and glared at him. "You're being a real jerk, you know that?"
He lit a cigarette and shrugged. "It's true," he argued as he tossed the cigarette into the fire.
"You don't have to rub salt into the wound!" she scolded him.
"I'm only telling it like it is," he argued.
Jenny jumped to her feet and balled her hands into fists at her sides. "You're such an ass!"