Page 90 of Death Trap

Eli and I had a life—sort of—together before this. He knew me better than anyone else because we’d spent forever together.

If only I could remember it. I felt like I was a schoolgirl with a crush or something. All nerves and quick glances.

Eli reached out and took my hand in his. I stared at it, my body stiffening automatically. “As I told you before, I’m used to waiting for you. I have no problem with you taking as much time as you need to feel comfortable with us.”

Sweet. But I severely doubted he knew what he was asking.

“We’re starting from zero again. You realize that, right? A big, fat zero,” I said.

“I do.”

After sliding my hand out, I quickly tucked it into my pocket and glanced at Kay. She was watching us like we were on one of those really bad soap operas, all dewy-eyed. When she caught me looking, she swiftly recovered and took a sip of her coffee, then spit it back into the cup immediately after because it had more than likely gone disgustingly cold by now.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes as she hurried back to the kitchen, dumped it in the sink, then refilled it with some fresh brew.

“Anything more?” Simon asked, breaking the silence.

“Yeah,” I said. “What now?”

Azrael might think I was still trapped in Hell, but he’d find out I had escaped soon enough.

“We need to stop Azrael before he does any more damage,” Eli said.

“Tamara said Azrael has moved closer to a dark side with all his antics.” When they all stared at me with blank faces, likely wondering who Tamara was, I waved their confusion away. It was unimportant right now. “I’ve seen him. It does seem he’s turned. That means he can’t get into the afterlife without help, which is why we’re assuming he recruited Benjamin. Which was a plant for me the entire time.”

Simon glanced down, seeming ashamed.

There was no way for him to know Azrael had put that folder in his office expecting Simon to find it. I didn’t blame him. At all.

“If Azrael gets to the afterlife again, he will be unstoppable there,” Eli went on. “We know where he’ll be. He’ll be in Styx Corporation. There, he can change whatever he wants about the souls in their afterlife dimensions. He can shut down the reapers or have them collect the wrong lives to further his agenda.”

I glanced at Kay, who was leaning over the countertop and drinking her coffee. What was to stop Azrael from first going after the people I cared about? Like Kay, Laurence, or even Cole.

Fear sliced through me. All he had to do was plug their names into reapers’ devices, and the reapers would carry out the assignments without a second thought. They weren’t like me. There wouldn’t be any hesitation.

“We need to cross over first, right?” I left the question for anyone to answer. “Make sure Azrael hasn’t managed to get to the afterlife yet and change things.”

“Yes, I agree. But there is one issue,” Eli replied.

“And what is that?”

“You have to be the one to kill him.”

I almost choked on my own tongue.

“E-excuse me?” I stuttered. “Me? Why me?”

I could barely look the man in the eye. How was I going to be able to take him down? Turning evil or not, he was still a celestial being. Had been for a long time. I was still a novice at this whole angel thing, so he was more powerful than me, for sure.

“You said it yourself. My power is still weak until I do the Trials thingy,” I said.

“True, but even so, you are still stronger than all of us,” Eli began. “And if Azrael is truly Falling due to his corruption, that means his powers will be weakened.”

I couldn’t help but hang on his use of the word “Falling.” As in fallen angel. Like in the Bible stories with Lucifer.

“Can you even kill an angel? Is that even possible?” I asked.

“Yes, but it is extremely hard. An angel can only be killed by an angel sword. You will receive yours after you complete the Trials.”

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