Page 109 of Death Wish

Before I got closer, I examined the sky for any glowing orbs suddenly appearing out of nowhere. No glowing light balls. Nothing but twinkling stars and swaying tree branches. A rather peaceful night, despite all the chaos that had happened earlier.

Maybe I would never know what that thing was that had saved me from selling myself to a demon. Maybe I could find something more about it in some of Wyatt’s books or the box he’d gifted to me with the angel mark. Or I could just let it be and be thankful that it had intervened when it did.

I mentally added it to my Things to Do list for another time. I still had this night to get through and tomorrow to prepare the ritual for Kay. Then there was the whole mess with going back to the afterlife and Styx Corp.

Yeah, my plate was kind of full right now.

The sound of someone approaching stiffened my spine. “Er— Jade?”

I turned to see Cole walking towards me as the others entered the trailer and shut the door.

Oh boy. This wasn’t going to be good.

“Came to collect your bounty?” I said. The instant shock and confusion on his face was priceless, and I soaked it in—a little too happily, I’ll admit. When he didn’t reply, I added, “I know. You don’t need to keep on lying through your teeth. I know our entire meeting wasn’t accidental. I know I’m one of your assignments.”

He blinked, obviously not expecting this conversation yet. Or this bluntly. But since we were all almost dragged into the deepest pits of Hell only moments ago, now felt like a good time to lay it all out.

At first, I thought he might deny it and try to go on with the ruse, but to my surprise, he said, “How did you figure it out?”

“Honestly? I was suspicious from the beginning. But I didn’t know fully until I overheard you talking with my boss in the motel room.”

He rubbed the side of his face. Then after a few seconds, he sighed. “Yes, Azrael hired me to keep you away from the afterlife plane until the solstice. He was adamant about it but didn’t tell me why other than he had business to attend to. Apparently, your friend getting attacked by Xaver wasn’t part of his plan. I didn’t think much of it because it seemed like a good reason for you to stay on this side of the spirit door, but once Azrael found out you were caught up in demon business, he wasn’t too thrilled. As I’m guessing you heard.”

I had. But what I didn’t understand was why.

“What was he paying you?” I asked.

“It was more like the other way around. He threatened me,” he said. “Said that if I didn’t do this, he could speed up my change. Make me a Halfling and deliver me personally to the full-blood responsible for me.”

“Can he do that?”

“Hell if I know. I’ve worked with a lot of supernaturals in my day but never with an actual angel. And not just any. The Angel of Death. I wasn’t about to risk it.”

Okay, I could understand that somewhat. I had worked for Azrael for a year, and I still didn’t know what power the angel really possessed. He was the only one I had ever met, too, so there wasn’t anyone else I could compare him to.

“I’ll tell you this, though. He put me in a death-like sleep pretty quickly before you came and found me in the alley. And the dreams I had… Bizarre.” He went on. “Why do you think Azrael wanted to keep you away from the afterlife, anyway? Or out of demon affairs? What does it matter to him?”

“That’s what I’m still scratching my head about, too. I have no idea. He was the one always telling me to stick to my job. Not get involved in human stuff.”

“Be a mindless worker bee, huh? And when you couldn’t stick to that, he tried finding another way to keep you busy,” Cole said. “Seems like he needs you out of the picture for some reason.”

“But why?”

Cole shrugged. “It must have something to do with your light power thing. And that you can read ancient dialects. I mean, that tattoo on your chest and the box can’t be a coincidence. Neither can that glowing ball of light swooping in to rescue us. It all has to mean something. Azrael must be scared of you.”

I almost laughed out loud at that one. “Scared of m-me?” I sputtered. “He’s the Angel of Death, for Pete’s sake. Why would he be worried about me? I’m just one of his reapers.”

“Not just a reaper, Jade. You can’t be.”

I shook my head frantically. “I don’t know what the hell I am, but it can’t be anything crazy enough to be a threat to an ethereal being.”

“I saw you make a full-blooded demon explode from the inside out. And send all his hellions back to their hole.”

He was right. I had done that. But what was power if I didn’t know the cause of it or how to use it properly so it didn’t drain my energy whenever I needed it.

“You’re a force to be reckoned with, Jade,” he said. “You just have to learn how to control that power of yours and—”

“This, coming from a half-blood who almost turned Halfling on me because he couldn’t control himself from using his corrupting Hellfire.”

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