Page 75 of Death Trap

Tamara swiped her bangs out of her face. “Oh, please.”

“Azrael was my boss. He has been for centuries. And he’s an angel. His power goes beyond anything you find in the living world. He’s quite scary.”

“Anyone can die,” Tamara said plainly. “Even celestial beings. It just takes a little more effort.”

I guess that made sense. I did kill Xaver, a full-blooded demon. But how to axe an angel? Were they ever alive to start with? Could spirits “die” again?

If it came down to it and Azrael and I had to face off, I might need to talk to Tamara about her insight there. Maybe there was a spell I needed.

“What do you know about me?” I asked Benjamin. “You need to tell me everything you know.”

Benjamin shifted again in his seat. “I don’t know too much. I just know that for some reason, you’re the one who is strong enough to stop Azrael’s plans and stop the demons from rising. He didn’t tell me anything else besides that.”

Okay, I kind of believed that. He told Cole the same thing that time I had dropped in on them talking in the motel room.

“What about my life before you reaped me? Who was I? Maybe that can give me some kind of hint?”

“Your bio just said your name is Jade Blackwell. Age thirty. Cause of death was blank, since it was constructed by Azrael, and type was human.”

“Human…” That was surprising, since my spirit had been placed in the supernatural afterlife and because of my strange powers. I guess they had nothing to do with my life and had only manifested after my death for a different reason. “Was there anything in my short description?”

He shook his head. “Blank,” he said. “There were so many things off about your soul’s overall bio, I had to ask him what it was all about.”

Azrael must have manipulated it. That was the only explanation I could think of.

“I also found it strange that he wanted to be there to see me kill you. He wanted to witness it.”

“Probably didn’t think you’d do it on your own,” Tamara answered. “Especially if you were questioning him.”

“Or he got some sick satisfaction out of seeing me die,” I added.

I wouldn’t put it past him. The sick bastard.

“Are you sure you don’t know what I am?” I felt like I hadn’t gotten the answers I really wanted. “Did Azrael tell you anything else about me?”

Benjamin rubbed his lips together, as if he wanted to say more but was unsure.

“What aren’t you telling me, Benjamin?”

Light flashed above us like lightning.

Benjamin jumped to his feet and scurried to a nearby wall, looking up at the ceiling.

Tamara leapt up, too, moving closer to me. “What’s going on?”

More light sparked above.

“I have no clue.”

One by one, symbols appeared on the ceiling in a circle, each one glowing white as it etched into the plaster. Like a spirit door when all the signs were in place, the center opened up in a burst of more white light, and someone dropped through and landed gracefully on top of the coffee table.

Wearing a slim-fitting black suit, Azrael lifted his head to stare at me, his eyes glowing unnaturally green. The feline smile I used to fear returned to his strikingly handsome face.

“Jade,” he drawled, the way he used to whenever we would meet in his office. Usually just before a brutal scolding. But this time, there was something else hidden in his silky tone. Something that sounded like a threat. “Nice to see you again.”

A shiver shot down my spine, like it always did whenever I faced my boss—well, ex-boss—and Angel of Death, Azrael. He radiated indescribable power and danger, and now, after seeing him again after so much time, there were shadows lining his sharp features that hadn’t been there before. They seemed to age him a little, making me wonder if angels ever grew old. I always thought of them as immortal beings, ones I never fully understood or had any interest in understanding, really.

Just interacting with Azrael alone had been scary enough. I had no desire to travel farther down that rabbit hole. But now with Eli and this whole “saving everyone from a pending apocalypse” thing, maybe I should start to read up on them. Might come in handy later on.

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