\u201cLegs in the air, heels toward the ceiling. Crunch, quick!\u201d<\/p>\n
I lay flat on my back, legs extended up, and started crunching as the instructor counted off reps. After about three movements the atrophied muscles in my abdomen started to scream for mercy. My legs dropped toward the ground.<\/p>\n
\u201cUh-uh-uh. No, no, no,\u201d the instructor said to me as he walked around the classroom checking our form. He was a tall, handsome African-American man with the demeanor of a drill sergeant. \u201cKeep those legs up.\u201d<\/p>\n
He grabbed my ankles and jerked my legs back into position. I tried to remember why I had made this asinine New Year\u2019s resolution to lose weight in the first place. Beezle had laughed for a full half hour when I told him I was going to an aerobics class.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou should be going with me, too,\u201d I\u2019d said. \u201cExcept that you\u2019d scare the crap out of all the fit people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beezle had patted his round tummy indignantly. \u201cI\u2019ll have you know that I am the perfect shape for a gargoyle.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, a gargoyle that gets out of breath going to the kitchen for snacks,\u201d I\u2019d replied.<\/p>\n
\u201cBetter to get out of breath in pursuit of chocolate than in pursuit of a fitness you will never achieve,\u201d Beezle had said.<\/p>\n
I\u2019d sworn then and there to lose thirty pounds by June. In retrospect, this was a stupid thing to say out loud, because if I didn\u2019t lose the weight, Beezle would harass me about it for the rest of my life.<\/p>\n
\u201cFifty more!\u201d the instructor shouted.<\/p>\n
I groaned and glanced at the clock. Aside from my possibly fruitless pursuit of rock-hard abs, I had a secondary motive for getting up at the ungodly hour of five A.M. and making my way to the local YMCA. I had a soul to pick up, and that soul was Harry Lopardo, presently crunching his way up and down on the mat next to me, scheduled to depart this earth in about eight minutes. Harry was a super-fit middle-aged guy who could easily have been in one of those magazine ads for protein bars. He had that no-body-fat look.<\/p>\n
If I knew that I had only eight minutes left on my sand timer, I would definitely be doing something besides crunches. It would probably involve getting Gabriel, the unrequited lust of my life, naked as quickly as possible. Of course, there was a universe of obstacles in the way of that happening.<\/p>\n
See, I\u2019m an Agent of death. What that means is that once a week I get a list of names, times and places. The names are souls whose deaths have been foreseen by Agency prophets. My job is to be in the right place at the right time to take the soul to the Door. I\u2019m not sure precisely what\u2019s behind the Door, but I know that the soul has a choice of many worlds.<\/p>\n
Death is a bureaucracy. It\u2019s ordered, and filled with paperwork, and pretty much everyone is on a need-to-know basis. As a lowly Agent (a crappy job I inherited when my mother died) my need-to-know ranking is pretty low.<\/p>\n
\u201cLeg lifts, slow, then quick, go!\u201d the instructor shouted.<\/p>\n
I looked at the clock again. Two more minutes. Thank the freaking Morningstar, because I wasn\u2019t sure if I would be able to bend at the waist ever again if this went on for much longer.<\/p>\n
\u201cFifty more!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFifty more, fifty more . . . Is that all he knows how to say?\u201d I muttered.<\/p>\n
Harry looked over at me and grinned. \u201cI know it\u2019s tough, but if you stick with it, you\u2019ll see results.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo talking!\u201d the instructor shouted.<\/p>\n
I huffed and puffed my way through another few reps, and then Harry\u2019s legs dropped to the ground and he clutched his chest. His face turned purple.<\/p>\n
Heart attack.<\/p>\n
I came to my knees and called out to the instructor. \u201cHey, you should call nine-one-one! I think this guy is having a heart attack.\u201d<\/p>\n
Everyone in class turned to look at us. I took Harry\u2019s hand. \u201cIt\u2019s okay, it\u2019s okay; just look at me.\u201d<\/p>\n
People started crowding around. The hip-hop music that blared from the speakers kept running, out of sync with what was happening in the room.<\/p>\n
\u201cClear the way, clear the way; give him some air!\u201d the instructor said.<\/p>\n
I dropped Harry\u2019s hand and scooted back behind the crowd. This gave me the perfect opportunity to disappear.<\/p>\n
I pushed my wings from my back and winked out of sight.<\/p>\n
Even though I was invisible I still had to follow the laws of physics. That meant that I had to work around the knot of people surrounding Harry and slip through an opening to get to his body. A second after I knelt beside him again, he breathed his last breath.<\/p>\n
His soul came drifting up from the body, attached by a band of ectoplasm. Harry looked down at himself with confusion, then up at me. His eyes widened when he noticed my wings.<\/p>\n
\u201cA heart attack? Seriously? I was in great shape,\u201d he said. \u201cAre you the grim reaper? Or some kind of angel?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA little of both,\u201d I said, and this was true. My father was Azazel, a fallen angel, and my mother had been an Agent of death. I was also distantly related to Lucifer, and he loved to remind me of that fact.<\/p>\n
Harry watched the class instructor giving his lifeless body CPR. \u201cSo I guess if you\u2019re here, that means that CPR isn\u2019t going to do too much for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
I shook my head and held out my hand. \u201cWill you come with me?\u201d<\/p>\n
You have to give the soul a choice. They have to choose to go with you, or stay and haunt this earth forever,. Choosing to be a ghost also creates a lot of annoying paperwork.<\/p>\n
Harry put his hand in mine. As he did, he looked me up and down critically. \u201cI meant what I said, you know. If you stick with the class, you will definitely see results.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll keep that in mind,\u201d I said. \u201cGot any fitness tips for an overweight gargoyle?\u201d<\/p>\n
I dropped Harry off at the Door and made my way toward home. The flight felt a little lonely without Gabriel. He used to be my bodyguard, at the behest of my father, and therefore went everywhere with me except the bathroom. Now he was my thrall, by virtue of my having won him in a magical contest that I was not supposed to survive.<\/p>\n
The laws of Lucifer\u2019s kingdom said that once you are a thrall, you are always a thrall. You can be passed from owner to owner but you can never, ever be free. I really did not want to be Gabriel\u2019s owner. But I didn\u2019t want him to belong to someone else who would abuse him, either. So mostly I left him alone and avoided making direct requests of him that he would be forced to follow.<\/p>\n
This meant that I spent a lot more time flying solo than I used to, unless Samiel decided to come with me. Samiel was Gabriel\u2019s half brother and he\u2019d recently become a part of my household collection of oddities. He frequently came with me on pickups because he had an insatiable curiosity about anything and everything to do with humans, but Beezle had insisted that Samiel stay home this morning and watch a movie with him. The gargoyle had been strangely mysterious about the choice of film, too, so I just hoped that he wasn\u2019t making Samiel watch something icky, like a really bloody horror movie.<\/p>\n
I was flying lower than I usually do, close to the rooftops, which is why I saw the ghost.<\/p>\n
It was walking in circles on the sidewalk, which was odd behavior, even for an apparition. Every once in a while it would walk toward the brick exterior of a building and bounce off, almost as if it didn\u2019t know that ghosts could drift through solid objects.<\/p>\n
I lowered myself to the ground, so focused on the specter\u2019s weird behavior that I bumped into a kid with a hooded sweatshirt and backpack making his way to a nearby bus stop. The kid stopped and looked behind him, alarmed. Seeing nothing, he continued on, his shoulders tensed as if waiting for an attack.<\/p>\n
That was stupid of me. I shook my head and continued on toward the ghost, who was still walking in circles near the newspaper boxes on the corner. As I approached I saw that it was a twenty-something male, and he was talking to himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cGot to get to class\u2014can\u2019t stop\u2014got to go now\u2014sorry red\u2014have to go\u2014can\u2019t stay\u2014don\u2019t make me stay\u2014don\u2019t make me stay\u2014don\u2019t make me stay.\u201d<\/p>\n
He was dressed in that slouchy, worn-out style that a lot of college students favored. As I got closer his voice rose in a crescendo.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, can\u2019t stop\u2014can\u2019t stay\u2014sorry red\u2014don\u2019t make me stay\u2014don\u2019t make me stay\u2014DON\u2019T MAKE ME!\u201d He walked into a building, bounced off the wall and walked back, bouncing off again like a record with a skipping needle.<\/p>\n
\u201cHey,\u201d I said, putting my hand on his shoulder. \u201cHey, do you need help?\u201d<\/p>\n
He turned on me in terror, his hands raised and his wrists crossed in front of his face as if expecting a blow. \u201cNo, can\u2019t stop\u2014don\u2019t make me!\u201d<\/p>\n
I held my own hands up so that he would know that I wasn\u2019t going to hurt him. \u201cHey, it\u2019s okay. It\u2019s okay. You\u2019re safe. Can I help you? Can I bring you somewhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
Maybe I could convince this soul to go to the Door. That would probably win me points with J.B., even if he wasn\u2019t my direct supervisor anymore. J.B. hated ghosts. He took the presence of every lost soul as a personal affront to his ordered universe.<\/p>\n
The ghost had lowered his hands, but when I asked if I could bring him somewhere, he got that panicky, trapped-animal look again. \u201cNo, can\u2019t stop\u2014got to go\u2014don\u2019t make me stay!\u201d<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t know if he\u2019d been damaged in life or in death, and I didn\u2019t usually intervene in the afterlives of ghosts\u2014once the soul has made their choice to haunt instead of go to the Door, an Agent is pretty much out of it. But this ghost was acting so weird, I couldn\u2019t believe that the Agent who had been sent to do his pickup had left him like this. I thought I\u2019d better get him off the streets.<\/p>\n
I called an Agent response team and gave them my location.<\/p>\n
\u201cAgent Madeline Black, north side, near the bus stop at the corner of Clark and Wellington. Yeah, I\u2019ve got an unruly ghost here.\u201d<\/p>\n
I gave the dispatcher some info on the ghost\u2019s behavior and he told me to wait until the response team arrived. I tucked my phone in my pocket and settled in to babysit.<\/p>\n
They didn\u2019t keep me waiting long. A few minutes after I\u2019d called, three burly guys who looked like Navy SEALs came flying in. They all wore black shirts and black cargo pants and had the unsmiling look of military men on duty.<\/p>\n
\u201cAgent Black? We\u2019ll take it from here.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stepped back to let them do their thing. The leader of the squad approached the ghost with his hands in the air, indicating that he meant no harm. The ghost had gone back to walking into the wall over and over again.<\/p>\n
I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned around. J.B. stood there, glaring.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s up with your ghost, Black?\u201d<\/p>\n
J.B. had a thing for me, and if I didn\u2019t have a whole lot of unsettled lust for Gabriel, I might have had a thing for J.B., too, because he was pretty much as hot as it gets. Six foot plus, body of a runner, green eyes, black hair that sticks up in every direction because he spends a lot of time tugging at it.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, he acts like a stick-in-the-mud most of the time. Also, he was presently pissed at me because his mother had put a spell on him to make him act lovey-dovey toward me\u2014part of her master plan of getting a child from Lucifer\u2019s bloodline into her own bloodline. I didn\u2019t know why this was my fault, but once the spell was broken, he\u2019d decided to take out his mother issues on me.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not my ghost, Bennett,\u201d I said, trying to control my anger. \u201cI found it acting like this.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the fourteenth one this week,\u201d he said, his eyes troubled. \u201cI want to know what the hell is going on.\u201d<\/p>\n
The ghost screamed, and I turned back to see that one of the response team guys had wrapped his arms around the ghost\u2019s to restrain him. Another member of the team pulled out a small black device that looked a lot like a remote and pointed it at the ghost\u2019s eyes. A laser sight appeared on the bridge of the soul\u2019s nose.<\/p>\n
The ghost struggled in the Agent\u2019s grip, his cries louder and more frantic. \u201cCan\u2019t stop\u2014KEEP GOING\u2014SORRY RED\u2014I AM THE SCREAM\u2014I AM THE SCREAM\u2014I AM THE SCREAM!\u201d<\/p>\n
The other Agent pressed a button on the remote. It didn\u2019t seem like anything had happened, but the ghost abruptly went limp in the Agent\u2019s arms. One of the other guys stepped forward with a binding rope.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow could fourteen ghosts end up like this in one week? Who was supposed to do their pickups?\u201d I wondered aloud.<\/p>\n
J.B. was silent behind me. I turned to face him and saw that his jaw was clenched.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
He looked like he was struggling with some decision; then finally he said, \u201cThey weren\u2019t scheduled.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFourteen unscheduled deaths in one week? And they all ended up like this?\u201d I looked at him with dawning comprehension. \u201cYou think it has something to do with the fallen.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDoesn\u2019t it usually?\u201d he said. \u201cEvery time something weird and freaky has happened around here in the last few months it\u2019s come back to Lucifer. And the weird and the freaky have happened more frequently since you acknowledged your bloodline and came into your powers.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd so you think I might have something to do with it?\u201d I said. \u201cYou know, you accused me of murder once and you looked pretty stupid after when you found out that I hadn\u2019t been lying about Ramuell.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not accusing you of anything. I\u2019m just saying that you are Lucifer\u2019s child.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not Lucifer\u2019s child,\u201d I said. I could feel my magic pulsing underneath my skin\u2014never a good sign. Even though I had made great leaps and bounds in controlling my powers, I still was at the mercy of my emotions.<\/p>\n
\u201cReally?\u201d he said, with a pointed glance at my right hand.<\/p>\n
My right palm was covered with what looked like a henna tattoo of an uncoiling snake. Unfortunately, the tattooing had not been voluntary. I\u2019d been branded by Lucifer\u2019s sword, and I wasn\u2019t happy about it.<\/p>\n
I shook my head at J.B. \u201cI\u2019m Azazel\u2019s child, and my heritage has nothing to do with this in any case. I don\u2019t know what\u2019s causing this.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe I should just have you followed,\u201d J.B. said thoughtfully. \u201cYou\u2019ll probably stumble onto the solution accidentally. That seems to happen a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI resent the implication that I\u2019m Three-Stooging my way through life. I am the only person who\u2019s ever survived the Maze,\u201d I snapped. \u201cAnd may I remind you that you should look to your own backyard before you start making wild accusations.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou think my mother has something to do with this?\u201d J.B. snorted. \u201cShe\u2019d never be able to keep a secret this big from the rest of the faerie court.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe managed to keep the fact that she wanted a child of Lucifer\u2019s bloodline secret,\u201d I reminded him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat motivation would she have for murdering mortals and leaving them like this?\u201d J.B. said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat motivation did she have for trying to have me raped and killed?\u201d I said, and as soon as I said it I was sorry. It hung in the air between us like a living thing.<\/p>\n
As if by speaking it aloud, my memories\u2014the ones that I tried so hard to suppress over the last month\u2014came rushing back.<\/p>\n
The Maze\u2014a swarm of demons, a giant spider, my demon half brother trying to destroy me utterly.<\/p>\n
Nathaniel\u2019s face possessed by rage, Nathaniel\u2019s hands holding me down.<\/p>\n
Gabriel turning away from me in disgust.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t real,\u201d I muttered to myself. My face was covered in sweat, and a blast of cold January air made me shiver.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaddy . . .\u201d J.B. said, and he lifted his hand toward me.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d I said, and backed away, trying to get myself under control, trying to forget again. \u201cI\u2019m not doing this with you. You can\u2019t be my friend when you feel like it and shout at me the rest of the time. Whatever your mother did, I had nothing to do with it, and I suffered far worse at her hand than you did. You were embarrassed by a love spell. She tried to break me, my heart, my mind, my body.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut she couldn\u2019t,\u201d J.B. said, and his eyes were hard to read.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe couldn\u2019t,\u201d I agreed. \u201cAnd I won\u2019t let you or anyone else do it, either.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then I turned and flew away, and he didn\u2019t try to follow me.<\/p>\n
I came in the back door so I saw the mess in the kitchen first. Apparently Beezle and Samiel had made waffles, because the counter was covered in batter and the sink was full of dirty dishes. The score from a movie swelled in the living room and drifted down the hall to where I stood with my coat in one hand and my gloves in the other.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeriously?\u201d I said, and then my voice got louder. I tossed my stuff on a chair and strode down the hall. \u201cSeriously? Beezle, you are way too old for this shit.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stopped when I got to the living room. Samiel and Beezle were sitting on the couch. Both of them had tears running down their faces.<\/p>\n
\u201cGods above and below. What happened?\u201d I said, rushing to Beezle and picking him up. \u201cDid somebody die?\u201d<\/p>\n
He pointed wordlessly at the screen. I glanced at it, then back at Beezle.<\/p>\n
\u201cE.T.?\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
Beezle sniffled, nodding. Samiel blew his nose with a tissue.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou do know it\u2019s make-believe, right?\u201d<\/p>\n
Beezle glared up at me. \u201cIf you don\u2019t cry during E.T., you are a robot. No human could get through this movie without shedding a few tears.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFar be it from me to point out that neither of you are actually human,\u201d I said. \u201cWhen you\u2019ve wiped your face you can clean up the mess in the kitchen. I\u2019d like to have breakfast in a batter-free zone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Samiel looked at me and signed, He made me do it.<\/p>\n
I signed back, You don\u2019t have to listen to him.<\/p>\n
He threatened to put Grape-Nuts in my bedsheets if I didn\u2019t make waffles.<\/p>\n
Just make sure he actually does the dishes instead of supervising, I replied. Grape-Nuts in your bed is a pretty diabolical punishment. Those little grainy things would probably get everywhere. How would you ever get them out completely?<\/p>\n
\u201cWe saved some waffles for you. They\u2019re in the fridge,\u201d Beezle said.<\/p>\n
I looked down at my nonexistent abs and sighed. \u201cI can\u2019t have waffles.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beezle smirked. \u201cBecause of your diet.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI am going to lose thirty pounds,\u201d I said. \u201cStop trying to sabotage me by bringing doughnuts into the house.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one is making you eat them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, but you are making me buy them,\u201d I said. \u201cYou could be supportive, you know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beezle made a little \u201cpfft\u201d noise.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd what would you do if I stopped going to the pastry shop for you?\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou would deny an old gargoyle a few simple pleasures before I turn to stone?\u201d he said, putting on his best I-am-so-adorable-you-can\u2019t-resist-me face.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou act like you\u2019re going to turn tomorrow,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho knows?\u201d Beezle shrugged. \u201cIt could happen very suddenly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo could a heart attack from saturated fat overload,\u201d I said, and went to the kitchen to make oatmeal. My virtuous breakfast didn\u2019t taste nearly as good as Samiel\u2019s waffles looked.<\/p>\n
After the movie was over they came in the kitchen and Beezle started washing dishes with a lot of long-suffering sighing. I told them about what had happened with the ghost I\u2019d found, and how J.B. thought it had something to do with the fallen.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt probably does,\u201d Gabriel said from the door.<\/p>\n
I turned slowly, my heart beating faster, the way it always did when I heard his voice. He leaned in the doorjamb, hands in the pocket of his ever-present overcoat. His face was implacable as always.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t hear you come up,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou gave me permission to come and go as I pleased. I have come for Samiel\u2019s morning lesson,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Gabriel was teaching Samiel to channel his powers in a more productive way. Samiel had been raised by a monstrous nephilim and a psychotic angel who\u2019d drilled vengeance into him from the moment of his first breath, and thus mostly knew how to use his powers for destruction. I was very interested in keeping Samiel alive and under the radar of the Grigori, so Gabriel had undertaken the task of making Samiel a more productive member of supernatural society.<\/p>\n
\u201cHave your orders changed, mistress?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t start with the \u2018mistress\u2019 crap,\u201d I said angrily. \u201cI\u2019ve already gotten enough passive-aggressive BS from my other not-a-boyfriend this morning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gabriel nodded stiffly. \u201cAs you wish.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd my name\u2019s not Buttercup, either.\u201d<\/p>\n
I sighed. I didn\u2019t know how much longer the two of us could go on this way. It seemed Gabriel resented me more because I refused to act like his owner. Since I\u2019d already thrown down with J.B., I wasn\u2019t in the mood for another confrontation with Gabriel, especially with Beezle and Samiel watching us like we were the best reality TV ever.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy do you think the ghosts have something to do with the fallen? Their own accords state that they aren\u2019t supposed to harm mortals.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd you have witnessed for yourself just how well some of Lord Lucifer\u2019s minions follow those accords,\u201d Gabriel replied.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot very well at all,\u201d I said, thinking of Focalor and his bid for power.<\/p>\n
My darling great-grandfather had told me that Focalor would be punished for his actions at Amarantha\u2019s court. I hadn\u2019t heard what that punishment was, but I was certain it had been swift and severe. Lucifer had to make sure that his other courts understood that treason would not be tolerated.<\/p>\n
Samiel rapped his knuckles on the counter so we would all look at him. But to murder mortals and leave their souls in such a state\u2014that law is one that even the most rogue of Lucifer\u2019s court would not break. Lucifer is not interested in the death of mortals.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d Beezle agreed. \u201cHe wants to collect them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause every creature on his side increases his base of power,\u201d I said. \u201cAll he\u2019s really interested in his lording his strength over the other supernatural communities.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhich is why he is so interested in you, Madeline,\u201d Gabriel said. \u201cYou have strength and power that you have not yet begun to imagine, and Lord Lucifer knows this. It is also why you have become such an interesting target for the other courts.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, moving on,\u201d I said. I didn\u2019t like to think too closely about my value to Lucifer and my consequent dead-or-alive value to his enemies. That way lay indigestion and sleepless nights. \u201cLook, the last two times there were deaths outside of the natural order it was because of Lucifer\u2019s sons, so I can see why you and J.B. would think it would have something to do with him again. But really\u2014how many more sons could he have floating around?\u201d<\/p>\n
Beezle arched his brow at me pointedly. \u201cLucifer has been alive for millennia.\u201d<\/p>\n
And therefore would have had millennia to reap and sow, as it were, I thought. Was I really going to have to go through this again\u2014stumbling onto more secrets in Lucifer\u2019s kingdom, hunting down another of his children? How many innocents would die before I figured things out?<\/p>\n
We all stood silently, each of us brooding on our thoughts. The doorbell rang. Beezle fluttered up and away from the sink, clearly thrilled to have a reason to leave the dishes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d better see who it is,\u201d he said, speeding toward the window.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to finish the washing when you come back!\u201d I shouted after him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith any luck, it will be something horrible and you\u2019ll be distracted for the next several hours,\u201d Beezle snapped back over his shoulder.<\/p>\n
I looked at Gabriel, who gave me a sad little half smile. Beezle was probably right. My doorbell rang only when bad things were about to happen. Maybe I should tear the stupid thing off.<\/p>\n
Beezle zipped back in through the kitchen window, pulling it shut behind him. \u201cIt\u2019s cold out there. It\u2019s Jude at the door.\u201d<\/p>\n
I frowned. Jude was a werewolf that I had met about a month ago .I was friendly with Wade, Jude\u2019s alpha, but Jude himself didn\u2019t think very much of me. He hated anyone related to Lucifer.<\/p>\n
I trooped downstairs to see what Jude wanted. My household entourage followed me, Gabriel and Samiel crowding on the stairs and Beezle plunking himself on my shoulder.<\/p>\n
\u201cHasn\u2019t anyone in this house ever heard of privacy?\u201d I muttered.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d Beezle said. \u201cYour business is my business, and you\u2019re only going to tell the other two anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n
And if Jude was there to claw me to death, Gabriel and Samiel could probably intervene before too much bodily damage occurred.<\/p>\n
I swung the door open and saw Jude through the exterior door standing outside on the porch with his back to us. This was standard for supernatural creatures\u2014they couldn\u2019t cross the threshold of my house without my permission. I pushed open the exterior door and tried not to think about the fact that Gabriel was standing right behind me, the warmth of his body radiating into my skin and making my clothes feel uncomfortably tight.<\/p>\n
Jude turned when he heard the door open, and I gasped. His face and hands were covered in blood and his eyes were wild.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to come. Wade\u2019s missing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cLegs in the air, heels toward the ceiling. Crunch, quick!\u201d I lay flat on my back, legs extended up, and started crunching as the instructor counted off reps. After about three movements the atrophied muscles in my abdomen started to … Continue reading