Ascension (Book 4, The Watcher Chronicles) (23 page)

“I’ve made no mistakes.”

Malcolm chuckles. “You can continue to delude yourself on that point, but we’ve all been witness to the stupid things you’ve done. You act like a spoiled child who’s trying to get your father’s attention. All you need to do now is roll around on the floor and kick your arms and legs while you scream. You’re nothing, Lucifer. You never were and you never will be.”

Lucifer’s hands burst into blue flames and before I know it he has them wrapped around Malcolm’s neck.

Chapter 14

I watch in horror as Lucifer’s hands squeeze Malcolm’s throat so tightly I’m not sure Malcolm can take in a breath.

“Do you want to die, little angel?” Lucifer taunts.

“Do it,” Malcolm says, gasping for air. “Let’s see if you have the balls.”

Lucifer squeezes even harder.

Michael causes our hands to burst into the same bright blue flames, and I know he’s getting ready to attack Lucifer when we hear Malcolm begin to laugh. We watch as Malcolm rears back his right arm, hand fisted and slams Lucifer right across the jaw causing him to fly across the expanse of the roof.

“I’ve been waiting to do that for eons,” Malcolm tells us, grabbing my arm and phasing me to a nondescript street in a city I don’t recognize.

Aiden is waiting there for us.

“Take Jess to Mason,” Malcolm tells Aiden.

I feel Michael give me back control of my body.

“Then it works?” Aiden asks in amazement.

“Obviously,” Malcolm says with a roll of his eyes, “or I’d be dead. Now go. I’ll deal with him. Get her out of here.”

Before I can say a word, Aiden phases us directly to the new headquarters.

I see Mason standing in front of the holographic display with a hologram of our earth floating beside him. Leah is sitting in a chair in front of him taking notes on a tablet.

When Mason sees me, he points to me, and he and Leah walk over to us.

“How did the meeting go?” Mason asks.

I completely ignore Mason’s question and turn to Aiden. “What the hell happened back there?  How did Malcolm not get bar-b-qued by Lucifer?”

Aiden looks from me to Mason, and I’m not sure he’s going to answer the question.

“It was a test,” he finally says.

“A test?” Mason asks. “Tell me exactly what happened.”

“Malcolm baited Lucifer into using his archangel powers on him,” I tell him. “But Lucifer couldn’t kill him. At least that’s the way it looked to me.”

Mason narrows his eyes on Aiden. “Explain.”

Aiden looks uneasy, like he doesn’t want to tell Mason what he knows.

Mason raises an eyebrow at Aiden silently telling him he’s patiently waiting for an explanation.

“Malcolm was testing something,” Aiden finally says, although reluctantly.

Mason folds his arms over his chest. “Testing what exactly?”

“A protective charm JoJo made.”

I instantly remember the angel wing pendant and necklace Malcolm was wearing.

“His necklace protected him?” I ask.

Aiden nods slowly. “That’s the way it looks.”

“So JoJo figured out how to make something that can protect the Watchers from Lucifer and his men?” I have to ask for confirmation because it just sounds too good to be true.

“She wasn’t sure it would work,” Aiden says. “So Malcolm volunteered to be the guinea pig.”

“Why?” I ask.

“I think he knew you needed a way to keep Mason protected. He felt like it was worth the risk to make sure Lucifer couldn’t use Mason’s safety as a threat against you.”

“So he risked his life for us?”

“For all of us,” Aiden says, “now JoJo can make us all something to protect us against the princes. Although he mostly did it for you, I think, so you don’t have to worry about Mason’s safety anymore.”

I feel myself tear up as I realize the risk Malcolm took to lift my largest worry from my shoulders.

“I might have to kiss him the next time I see him,” I say.

“Only after I hit him for risking so much,” Mason grumbles.

“Would you have done any less for one of your men?” I ask Mason. “Isn’t risking everything for the ones you care about the most important characteristic of a good leader?”

Mason understands my subtle reminder about his plan to groom Malcolm to take over his position as leader of the Watchers.

Mason nods his head.

“Yes,” he agrees. “A calculated risk that can save lives is always worth pursuing. A good leader knows that. A great leader follows through with it himself.”

The elevator doors to the room open, and I see Nick step into the room. It’s been a while since I’ve seen him but he pretty much looks the same. He’s wearing his usual sharply tailored blue suit, white shirt and slim matching tie.

“Glad to see the two of you here,” Nick says to Mason and me with, amazingly enough, a smile. “I just got a call. The President’s wife wanted to know if you could join them for supper tonight.”

“The President’s wife?” I ask. “How does she even know I exist?”

“I told her,” I hear Mason say beside me.

When I look over at him, the expression on his face surprises me. He’s blushing.

“Why did you tell her about me?” I ask.

“The last time I was there she asked me why I seemed so much happier, and I ended up telling her about you.”

“Can you do that?”

“She’s one of the few people with clearance who can know what’s really going on. So yes, I was able to share with her the news of our soon to be married life.”

“And now she wants to meet me?”

“Yeah,” Nick says. like this should come as no surprise. “I don’t think you understand what a bear he was to work with before he met you. She probably wants to meet the miracle worker who changed him.”

“Thanks,” Mason says, not thankful at all.

“Well, it’s true,” Nick says. “Am I not right, Aiden?”

Aiden looks like he’s not quite sure how diplomatic he should be about his answer and finally says, “Well, you’ll know if I’m lying anyway so I might as well say the truth. I have to agree with Nick. You were pretty awful to work for, Mason. I always dreaded your calls.”

“You guys have to be over exaggerating,” Leah says, confident in her words. “He’s always been really nice to me.”

“You can thank your lucky stars you met him after he hooked up with Jess,” Nick says. “Otherwise, you’d be on our side on this one.”

“When does the First Lady want us there?”  Mason asks, choosing to effectively end the conversation.

“Uh like now.”

“Ok.”  Mason looks to Aiden. “Would you mind taking Leah home after her math lesson with Nick?”

“Sure,” Aiden says. “I can do that.”

Mason takes my hand, and I find us standing in a dining room. It’s a pale yellow room with a cream colored carpet that is detailed with a criss-cross pattern of green with fleurs-de-lis in the center of the resulting diamond shapes. I do seem to vaguely remember the President being from Louisiana.

Mama Lynn always voted Republican, and she was thrilled when a Southern boy rose to the highest office in the country. In the center of the room is a circular table with a floor length tan table cloth embossed with a flowery pattern in ivory. The pattern matches that of the four cloth upholstered chairs around the table. In the center of the table is an arrangement of pink and white roses. A crystal chandelier hangs directly above it. Four table settings complete with white napkins, fine bone china, silverware and crystal goblets sit waiting for us.

One of the doors to the room swings inward, and I hear the laughter of a woman.

When the First Lady rounds the corner of the door, she immediately notices us in the room.

I’ve only seen the First Lady in pictures and TV, but I find her even lovelier in person. She’s a petite woman with short dark brown hair and eyes. Her make-up has been meticulously applied. She’s wearing a red colored lace sheath cocktail dress with cap sleeves. Her eyes seem to light up when they land on me.

“You must me Jess,” she says coming to stand in front of us while two male servers enter after her pushing in silver carts with covered dishes, presumably our food.

The First Lady holds her hand out to me and I shake it. I find her handshake firm and confident.

“Yes, I’m Jess, ma’am,” I tell her. “It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Woods.”

“Oh please, just call me Kathy,” the First Lady tells me with an easy, open smile. “I’m so pleased you and Mason were able to make it tonight. I know it was short notice, but something we had planned for this evening fell through at the last minute and free nights to do whatever we want are so rare in this house.”

“I would imagine so,” I agree.

“Please,” Kathy says sweeping her hand towards the table. “Why don’t we go ahead and sit down?  Harry should be through with his meeting soon, and he’ll join us then.”

Mason holds out my chair for me and scoots it in as I sit down. One of the two male wait staff extends the same courtesy to the First Lady. Once we’re seated, the men place small plates with Caesar salad in front of us.

“I’ll ring the bell when we’re ready for the entrée,” the First Lady says to the servers.

They both bow to her and leave the room.

“We have to be careful about speaking in front of the staff,” Kathy tells me. “We definitely don’t need any information about you and your group leaking out to the public.”

“Just how much do you know?” I ask, looking from the First Lady to Mason for an answer.

“Oh, I think I know everything Harry does, don’t I Mason?”

“I think you know more,” Mason replies with an easy smile, and I can tell he likes the First Lady. He looks over at me. “You can speak freely here, Jess. We decided after all the vessels were found that the President needed to know what was going on.”

I feel myself relax some.

“So Mason tells me you will be getting married this coming Friday,” Kathy says. “Who designed your dress?”

“JoJo Armand.”

“Ahh,” the First Lady says, nodding as she uses her fork to pick up some of her salad. “I guess I should have known that since she’s one of the vessels. I absolutely love her designs. She knows exactly how to make a woman look like a woman in clothing without making us look too frilly.”

I’m not sure what the First Lady would think of the wedding dress JoJo made me. It was nothing if not frilly.

I hear the deep timber of a male voice right outside the door to the room. My back is to the door, and I hear the click of the knob as it’s turned by the person coming inside. The First Lady looks up and smiles tightly, like she’s not completely happy to see the person who just walked in.

“Sorry I’m late,” I hear a man, I presume to be the President, say behind me.

Mason stands and comes to pull out my chair for me so I can rise and meet the President of the United States America.

When I turn around to be introduced to him, I feel like my world as been turned upside down and shaken apart at the seams.

“Jess,” I hear Mason say as I try to make myself remember to breathe, “I would like to introduce you to President Harry Woods. Harry, this is Jess, my fiancé.”

The President holds out his hand for me to shake.

I just stare at it, not wanting to touch him but knowing I have to or it will look suspicious. I swallow hard and place my hand into his.

His handshake is weak, and I immediately withdraw my hand from his after one shake.

I look up into the eyes of the man responsible for the fate of the nation I live in.

“Nice to finally meet you, Jess,” the President says to me, a knowing smile playing across his lips. “Mason’s told me all about you.”

I feel like I’m about to faint and have to remind myself that weakness is not something I want the man in front of me to see.