Page 56 of Legacy of Chaos

“Now you see why I’m here.”

Azagoth swirled the amber liquid in his glass, his expression troubled.

“Leave it to Harvester to cause mayhem.” Azagoth’s daughter stepped inside, a towel draped over one arm, a pair of sunglasses dangling from her tan, slender fingers. “What did she do?” She eyed Gabriel up and down, her shrewd green eyes sizing him up. If she was as good as he’d heard, she’d already assessed his weaknesses and determined what weapon would work best against him. “And who are you?”

Azagoth smoothly blocked Gabriel from her line of sight. “He’s no one.”

“Oh,” she said in a deep, sultry voice as she stepped back into his view, “I doubt that.”

Visibly annoyed, Azagoth turned to his daughter. “Raika, have you heard of any demon incidents in Norway or near the North Sea?”

“No, why? Does this have something to do with Harvester? Have you figured out a way to bring her back?”

Gabriel blinked. “Bring her…back?”

Azagoth swung around to him, casually blocking his view again. “Apparently, her Grace never returned to Heaven. Instead, it found a human vessel.”

Gabriel’s breath caught. “A vessel? No angel has taken a vessel in centuries. Not for more than a few days, and not without a good reason.” When an angel died in the human realm, their souls—their Grace—could either return to their Creator or enter a human. They couldn’t stay for long lest they burn out the body. They mostly just hung out, but sometimes, they could communicate through their host or even influence their behavior. “Has she spoken through this vessel?”

Raika shifted back into Gabriel’s view and gave her dad a questioning look—a definite is-this-stranger-cool look—and waited for his nod before answering.

“Idess thinks Harvester may not be conscious enough to speak,” she said, referring to her half-sister, one of Azagoth’s many children with many angelic mothers, and one of Stryke’s aunts. “The more traumatic a person’s death, the longer it takes for them to adjust.”

That certainly held true for humans. It could take those in Heaven years to come to terms with their deaths.

He had no idea about angels since little was known about what happened to their Grace—their soul and their power—after they returned to Heaven. Some believed the Creator reabsorbed them. Others thought their souls were recycled the way humans and demons were, reborn into another body.

A significant number of Celestials refused to consider that as a possibility because it would mean they had something in common with lowly humans and vile demons.

“So?” she asked. “Do you know how to reach her? Bring her out so she can speak through her vessel? We need to know what happened to her. Also, whoareyou?” She glared at her father.“And don’t tell me he’s no one. If he’s not a high-ranking angel, I’ll eat a bag of dicks for dinner.”

“You most certainly will not,” Azagoth said, and Gabriel had to bite back a laugh at the graphic image that must be going through his fatherly head right now.

“I’m Gabriel,” He inclined his head in greeting. “Your father and I are old friends.”

“Friendsis a bit of an exaggeration,” Azagoth said.

“True.” Gabriel gestured with his glass. “A friend wouldn’t explode a drink in their hand.”

“Be thankful it was your drink and not your head,” Raika said with a laugh. “This creepy guy a couple weeks ago? Messsssy.” She looked him up and down. “Gabriel, huh? Archangel. Not what I expected. I have a lot of questions.”

Not what she expected?

“Don’t you have a bunch of demons to capture?” Azagoth asked.

She rolled her eyes. “That’s why I’m not still in the pool.”

“Going to be hard fighting demons in a bikini.”

She snorted. “I can probably fightbetterin a bikini. Less restrictive.” She crossed her arms over her chest, and Gabriel had to force himself to look away from the smooth swells of flesh barely covered by tiny triangles of black fabric. “Tell me why you’re talking about Harvester and what she has to do with potential demons I might need to stop in Norway.”

Azagoth’s jaw tightened in frustration. “Put on some clothes.”

She rolled her eyes again, but a second later, she was dressed in black tactical pants, combat boots, a black tank top, and a weapons harness.

If Azagoth thought getting his daughter out of a bikini would make her less hot…he was so fucking wrong.

Raika was a freaking goddess in warrior gear.

---