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Authors: Paige Cuccaro
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didn’t ask him. I’m asking you.” My gut told me I could trust Eli and Tommy. But hearing Liam imply my gut might be wrong bugged the crap out of me.
“Fair enough. I’ll do for you what no one saw fit to do for me.” He stretched his arms out to the sides. “You have the knowledge of thirty-one years of battle at your disposal. For exactly ten minutes.”
“Thirty-one years. How old are you?”
“I was twenty-five when I was marked,” he said. “Been looking for the fiend that seduced me blessed mother for thirty-one years since then.”
I did the math. “Fifty-six? You’re joking.”
“Naw. Why would I?”
“How? You look my age.” My stomach knotted. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answer.
“We don’t age, lass,” he said. “Bloody hell, he didn’t even tell ya that much?”
I shook my head. It required too much brainpower to form words.
“From the moment we’re marked our lives stop,” he said. “From that instant on, we live only to send the Fallen to the abyss. The last one we send will be the one that spawned us, and then our lives will be our own again.”
My throat closed. I swallowed hard. “No matter how long it takes?”
“Aye,” he said. “But don’t look so gobsmacked. It’s not all bad. It’s not bad a’tall.”
“Not bad?” I laughed, bitter…and maybe a little manic. “I was marked yesterday. Yesterday! Since then I’ve fought four demons. And one of them actually grew horns and cloven feet. What’s not bad about that?”
“True. The demon attacks can be a wee troublesome.”
“Troublesome? Right. And the Enron scandal was just a bad day at the office.”
“But there’s a silver lining in that cloud you’ve anchored over your head,” he said. “The things we can do. We’re no longer bound by human weakness and the laws designed to make all men equal. We’re outside the human world now. We’re in their world, the world of angels.”
“Uh-huh. And that means what, exactly?” I was starting to think he might be more than just a few fries short of a Happy Meal.
“We don’t age, for one,” he said. “But I told you that. We can read thoughts, understand any language, and travel at the speed of light.”
“I can’t do any of those things.”
“It takes time to fine-tune your abilities, but I’ll wager you’ve had inklings.”
I shrugged, thinking. For as long as I could remember, I’d been able to read people’s emotions. Sometimes, if I tried hard enough, those emotions could be pretty specific. Had I always known it was more than just a special gift?
“So what? All those abilities only make us stand out,” I said. “I have a life, a family, friends, a business. I’ve never had to hide who I am before, and I don’t want to start now. How am I going to explain why I’m not growing older? How can I explain any of it?”
“Aw, lassie, don’t ya see?” Liam said. “None of that matters anymore. You’re one of us now, not one of them. You’ve got to cut ties with your human life. Walk away from your emotional bonds.”
“No. Nobody said anything about cutting ties. No way.” I snagged my purse from the ground where I’d dropped it and walked to the front of the Jeep. “Everything that’s happened the last few days is hard enough to accept. I’ll never get through it without my family, without something normal in my life.”
He pushed from the car and followed me, stopping to lean a hip against the hood. “So be it. But know this: every minute you stay with them, every time you’re seen with them, you put them at risk. They’re cannon fodder, lassie. Demons don’t give a damn who gets in their way. And the Fallen? They’ll use the ones you love against you. Mark my words.”
The truth itched through my subconscious. I knew Liam was right—I could feel it—but I wasn’t ready to fully accept it. I just couldn’t.
“I need my old life. It’s not fair. They can’t expect us to give up everything.
“Fair enough. I’ll do for you what no one saw fit to do for me.” He stretched his arms out to the sides. “You have the knowledge of thirty-one years of battle at your disposal. For exactly ten minutes.”
“Thirty-one years. How old are you?”
“I was twenty-five when I was marked,” he said. “Been looking for the fiend that seduced me blessed mother for thirty-one years since then.”
I did the math. “Fifty-six? You’re joking.”
“Naw. Why would I?”
“How? You look my age.” My stomach knotted. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answer.
“We don’t age, lass,” he said. “Bloody hell, he didn’t even tell ya that much?”
I shook my head. It required too much brainpower to form words.
“From the moment we’re marked our lives stop,” he said. “From that instant on, we live only to send the Fallen to the abyss. The last one we send will be the one that spawned us, and then our lives will be our own again.”
My throat closed. I swallowed hard. “No matter how long it takes?”
“Aye,” he said. “But don’t look so gobsmacked. It’s not all bad. It’s not bad a’tall.”
“Not bad?” I laughed, bitter…and maybe a little manic. “I was marked yesterday. Yesterday! Since then I’ve fought four demons. And one of them actually grew horns and cloven feet. What’s not bad about that?”
“True. The demon attacks can be a wee troublesome.”
“Troublesome? Right. And the Enron scandal was just a bad day at the office.”
“But there’s a silver lining in that cloud you’ve anchored over your head,” he said. “The things we can do. We’re no longer bound by human weakness and the laws designed to make all men equal. We’re outside the human world now. We’re in their world, the world of angels.”
“Uh-huh. And that means what, exactly?” I was starting to think he might be more than just a few fries short of a Happy Meal.
“We don’t age, for one,” he said. “But I told you that. We can read thoughts, understand any language, and travel at the speed of light.”
“I can’t do any of those things.”
“It takes time to fine-tune your abilities, but I’ll wager you’ve had inklings.”
I shrugged, thinking. For as long as I could remember, I’d been able to read people’s emotions. Sometimes, if I tried hard enough, those emotions could be pretty specific. Had I always known it was more than just a special gift?
“So what? All those abilities only make us stand out,” I said. “I have a life, a family, friends, a business. I’ve never had to hide who I am before, and I don’t want to start now. How am I going to explain why I’m not growing older? How can I explain any of it?”
“Aw, lassie, don’t ya see?” Liam said. “None of that matters anymore. You’re one of us now, not one of them. You’ve got to cut ties with your human life. Walk away from your emotional bonds.”
“No. Nobody said anything about cutting ties. No way.” I snagged my purse from the ground where I’d dropped it and walked to the front of the Jeep. “Everything that’s happened the last few days is hard enough to accept. I’ll never get through it without my family, without something normal in my life.”
He pushed from the car and followed me, stopping to lean a hip against the hood. “So be it. But know this: every minute you stay with them, every time you’re seen with them, you put them at risk. They’re cannon fodder, lassie. Demons don’t give a damn who gets in their way. And the Fallen? They’ll use the ones you love against you. Mark my words.”
The truth itched through my subconscious. I knew Liam was right—I could feel it—but I wasn’t ready to fully accept it. I just couldn’t.
“I need my old life. It’s not fair. They can’t expect us to give up everything.
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