The Angel Side (7 page)

And here
had been
the
ir
ruse
.
The only problem a Demon
had
ever
been unable to
handle
was
Arch
e
s. Asking me for help
had been
a lie so transparent
you’
d walk
right
through it.

“You remember me telling you about our children?” Persephone said
,
cupping my hand in hers.

Of course I
had
remembered her telli
ng me I had three step siblings:
Annahail, Botis
,
and Uphir
.
W
hat they had to do with me didn’t quite click. But what my mother told me next would rock my world to the core. If a word of what she said was to be believed, Annahail, Botis and Uphir were my demon half-breed children
,
and they were in danger of being discovered
.

Alastor first came into my life when I
was
ten
. My father had released
him
from a prison in Iraq when
he
accidently shot a young girl during a gun fight with Al Qaeda insurgents. After the incident, my dad
,
John
,
carried enough guilt and shame to feed Alastor as he followed him to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

It hadn’t been long after
when
René
started drinking heavily and my ‘schizophrenia’ came to a head. Despite being covered in deep purple bruises
,
my dad had been too distracted with my mental illness, René’s alcoholism, and his court martial, to believe I had a Demon coming into my room late at night and violently raping me.

The first time I found out I had been pregnant, I attempted to slit my wrists, but
René
found me in the bathtub
before I
had ble
d enough to end it all. The second pre
gnancy, I stole my dad’s car, hi
t him
with his own car while he had been
on h
is motorcycle then went head on
into
a concrete divider, resulting in the loss of my unborn child.
I didn’t realize I
had
gotten pregnant the third time. I woke up one morning covered in blood. My third
,
and final
,
pregnancy terminated itself.

Before I had been able to shatter through the veil, I never put any thought as to what had happened to the souls I
had
carried in my body. I simply believed once a life ended, it
vanished
. Now I knew
it carried
on to one world or another.

It took a huge amount of consoling on my mother’s part when she told me about unborn children. I had been sure my actions damned them to Hell. Though I wouldn’t win any mother of the year awards, it
hadn’t
been
my
selfish
actions that damned them but the fact that their sperm donor had been a Demon.

In my twin brother’s sick and twisted show of love, he named me
his
queen in
the
hopes one day I would sit by his side and share his bed when he created his underworld. Though I never sat on the throne, I had a claim on his domain
,
and any spawn from my bloodline would have the same rights as him or
me
to the throne. Of course, Lucifer never took into account I might conceive a child with anyone or anything other than him.

Posing a threat to the throne
since their arrival in Hell
, my mother raised Annahail, Botis
,
and Uphir
to one day overthrow Lucifer
.
She had been successful at keeping the children off Lucifer’s radar. That is
,
until in an effort to keep his horns while he had been a Demon, Ra suggested
to
Lucifer
he
should look for mine and Alastor’s children.
Since
then, my brother had been relentless
ly
seeking them out with the intention of eradicating them.

With
each passing moment, Lucifer and his bounty hunters would get closer and closer to discovering the children’s location
. Running out of hiding places, Persephone
had to
reach out for help beyond Hell’s gates.

But with all of
the
information dumped on me at once, three huge questions remained
:
did an
ything my mother tell
me hold any truth
,
and if so, how could I tell Ra, with who I
had never
been able to
conceive with, that I had
a seven, six and five year old
,
and how
in the world
would
I possibly
be able to
help them avoid Lucifer’s
wrath?

My mother and Nicor’s departure only left me with a few minutes to get ready for
that night’s
counseling session and zero time to think about what I
needed
to do.

Rushing to Ra’s apartment, I decided I would simply rip the Band-Aid off and tell him
before our session with Saraqael
. With any luck, he would see the situation for what it
had been
and not go into a flying rage
about me hav
i
ng
children outside of our
marriage
,
but when I arrived at the apartment, the only one there had been Saraqael. Of all the times for Ra to ditch out on another counseling session,
then
had not been
a good one.

Tapping my fingers on the arm of the couch, I waited
, and waited, and waited for Ra to show up
. It seemed as
of late,
I spent more time waiting for him than anything
else
.
Worse still, e
ach time
he’d finally grace me with his presence he only
brought new excuse
s
, a new reason for another broken promise.

“It’s been an hour. I’m going to go home
to get ready for the party
.” I said
to Saraqael as I grabbed my purse.

“Etta
,
wait, I am sure he will be here any mi
nute.” Saraqael forced a smile.

His smile
had been the straw that broke my emotional back.

“You know, I am tired of waiting. I waited a century for him to return home when everyone thought he had died. I waited five centuries to be released from Purgatory
,
and I waited a year for him to return to Earth for me. And what am I doing now?
Waiting.
All I do is wait
,
and for what? For him to show up for five minutes when he feels like it so we can argue? We’re in
his
apartment
,
and he’s not even here. I bet you
I’ve spent more time in his living room than he has. I’m twenty-
two
. I should be out living life and having a blast
,
not waiting around
as if I’m
some seventy year old spinster.”
Bursting into tears, I unloaded on Saraqael
.

“The life of an Arch is a demanding one without the special circumstances you two find yourselves in.
I know it’s easy to say, but you must be patient.
”
Saraqael nudged onto the couch, putting an arm around me as he tucked my head into the crook of his neck.

The loving gesture had the opposite intended affect. It simply reminded me
,
instead of my husband being the one telling me everything would be okay and wiping my tears,
it had been
someone else
,
again.

“I know all too well the life of an Arch. It’s no different from
anyone
else’s. You make a promise, you keep it. How difficult can it be?
You just don’t give up on someone because things
don’t go your way or because it doesn’t fit with your plans. You stand by them, no matter what.
”
I sobbed into Saraqael’s collar.

“
Is this about Ra or something entirely different, Etta?” Saraqael lifted my chin, searching my eyes for the answer.

I wanted to tell Ra about what happened after he went to work, but without him here and the new revelations the day brought boiling
to
the brim, I had no other choice but to confide in Saraqael.

Well,
t
here is something—
”

“
I’m here. I’m here.” a grease covered, sweaty Ra huffed as he burst into the room
, interrupting my confession
.

“Ra?
Where have you been? What happened?”
Wiping my tear streaked face, I ran to him.

“Car broke down on the other side of the base. I ran all the way here.”

“You ran? Why didn’t you just flash?
I told you, you needed to get rid of that Yugo.
” I
said
as Saraqael and I helped him to the couch.

“Too many people were out.” Ra huffed
,
attempting to catch his breath.

His broad chest heaved
,
exposing a few tendrils of chest hair. Pearls of sweat dripped
off
his
jaw
onto his already sweat soaked work shirt clinging to his body, extenuating his sculpted
pecs
. The pink hue that had flushed his cheeks had been reminiscent of
the
younger, more bashful
,
and incredibly sexy Ra I had married.

For the past three months, Ra and I had to limit our
physical contact
to strictly
hugging, cuddling,
and kissing.
On
occasion
,
light petting
but seeing him in his current state, I wanted to break every rule ever made.
As if sensing my sudden urge to rip his shirt off and take him where he stood, Ra popped his eyebrows as he flashed a cocky smirk, daring me to act on my urges despite the fact we weren’t alone.

“Catch your breath. I’ll get you some water.” Saraqael said
,
breaking the sexual te
nsion filling
the room.

“You should have called. I would have come
and
got you
,
silly goose.” I nervously giggled
as I scooted to the other side of the couch.

“I was late for work. I left my cell at the house.” Ra said
,
releasing a disappointed sigh.

“You’re a mess. Let’s go home
and get you cleaned up.” I replied
,
tousling
his hair

“No. I made it. I’m here. I want my wife
,
and if this is what I have to do
then
so be it.”

“Here’s your water. So
,
who wishes to begin?” Saraqael interrupted
.

“I guess I will
,
since Ra is busy gulping like a truck driver.
I know Ra has a lot going on and a lot of responsibilities
,
but I feel
as if
at times he’s not there for me.
”

“Care to elaborate, Etta?” Saraqael instructed
.

Nervously twisting the bottom of my shirt
, I thought hard about what to say next
. With Saraqael present, Ra would be less likely to lose his temper when
I told him about the children.
I had to figure out how to work my kids into tonight’s sessions.

“Well, there are times
I
’m
left to deal with stuff on my own because he’s either not around or so moody
anything
I say may set him off.”

“I see. And
,
Ra
,
what do you have to say about how Etta is feeling?
Ra?
Rahovart?”