The Seer's Lover (The Seven Archangels Series) (19 page)

“Cali…” he prompted, “…answer me.”

She furrowed her eyebrows. “I…I don’t know…yet. I think we should try it again.”

He smiled.

“Stay right where you are, Lucas Rojas. Because
I’m fine
,” she lied.

She lied because she was better than fine: she’d connected on the deepest possible emotional level with someone she barely knew, and it scared her to death. The mere flicker of the thought they’d ever be apart began to gnaw at her. So she pushed the thought down and rolled him on his back for more.

She didn’t dare take the chance he’d leave.

Chapter 14

The hurricane raged for what seemed like an eternity with Shane and the demons holed up in their shithole bungalow licking their wounds from Alejandro. He tried to nap, which was impossible with Nara and her parents bickering about the best way to abduct and subsequently torture the seers. He was in deep with the demon clan with Nara pregnant. He would be inextricably tied to them forever.

Shane wanted to say, “I’m not helping. I’m leaving. I’d say good luck, but that angel will destroy you.” What he did say was, “What if they summon the angel?” On the sane edges of his mind, he was formulating a plan of escape from these demons with his child.

“The angel isn’t a problem anymore. Anna is on our side.” Abaddon spat. He glared at Shane like the filth he probably believed him to be.

You keep thinking like that, dipshit, and we’re all dead.
“No, she’s not,” he persisted.

Nara squinted at him. “How can you be so sure?”

“I’m not. But is that a chance you’re willing to take? You’ve dealt with enough angels to know that angels, surprisingly, are somehow always better than demons at pulling out last minute clever tricks to help them win. A strong angel is like a good magician. Even when you’re sure you picked the right coconut that’s hiding the prize, you’ll never guess right. The house, when it’s full of angels, always had an advantage. Strong angels play even dirtier than demons.” Shane glared at Abaddon, or should he start calling him gramps?

“Aw, that’s sweet. You do care about us.” Nara fluttered her eyelashes and moved in close to snuggle with him on the couch.

He sank deeper into the moth eaten plaid daybed couch he’d called home the past week. The dive Abaddon rented lacked basic essentials like air conditioning and indoor plumbing, making it an insect haven. Between the stench of their sweat inside, and feces stagnating in a hole outside, the smell was overwhelming. But no room service meant no human interruptions. Staring at a crack in the cheap plaster wall, his mind singularly focused on one thing: his child. Choices. I have one year to plunge into the pit, get my grace back, or cease to exist.

Ascend or descend.

One year. Twelve months. Less than three hundred sixty-five days to get back in God’s good graces if he tried to ascend. Probably capturing, torturing, and likely killing seers with a demon clan wasn’t really a step in the right direction.

He pushed Nara away from him and stood tall over where Abaddon lounged. “Let’s make this clear. I’m not killing anybody, demon.”

“You don’t always have to do the actual killing to commit murder, son.” Abaddon smiled cruelly, throwing an imprint of the baby from the airplane in his mind.

Faltering, he stumbled backward gripping his head in his hands, unable to shake the image of the crying baby in Abaddon’s arms. He’d handed that child over voluntarily. “Stop it,” he pleaded.

Nara put a hand on his shoulder. “Daddy, stop. Remember, he did what you asked of him. Plus, he saved my life in Cabo. Twice.”

Abaddon held his ribs gingerly but rose to his full height standing tall and dark over Shane. “You can’t go back up. No one ever does. Your insecurities will always stop you. Are you worthy? No. Does He want you back? No. You never were good enough for Him, none of us were. The sooner you accept that, the sooner you can come and join us. Now, let’s finalize this plan. As soon as this storm ends, you two go and watch the young seer’s bungalow and bring him back here after you capture him. We’ll get the woman. Then we’ll have some fun.”

Shane couldn’t mentally compute how many wrong turns he had taken in his one allotted life as a former angel. At least demons could try to perfect their evil ways lifetime after lifetime after lifetime…

Even though he was a lost cause, his child didn’t have to be. It didn’t bode well for his unborn child that he or she were being born to a demon mother and fallen angel father with the added bonus of a set of hands-on demon grandparents—grandpa being the ambassador of Hell no less. Plus, the entire family was also top tier drug lords on the side to finance their misadventures. They probably had their fingers deep in the cookie jar of God-only-knew what else.

Shane needed some air. He went outside to listen to Hurakan. If humans knew that some of their crazy ideologies were true, what a mess that would be. The Mayans thought Hurakan was a god, but he was an angel locked in the atmosphere. An angel whose leg was chewed off at sea at the end of his one life. Hurakan, the “one-legged,” paused on his way back upstairs and came back to hunt for his leg. By prizing physical possessions over spiritual, God punished Hurakan by trapping him for all eternity between physical earth and heaven. From time to time, Hurakan lowered himself to continue his search for his missing leg while his remaining leg became the eye of the storm, wandering and careening wildly looking for its mate and destroying anything in its path.

His power was so intense that all of God’s creatures were forced to stop and listen to him during a hurricane. Angels and demons couldn’t move well in hurricanes. He ventured outside to be a sounding board for the angel trapped in the atmosphere. Through the howling wind and blowing trees in every direction, Shane could make out Hurakan’s haunting echo on the cusps of the wind.

Ddeemmoonnss bbeewwaarree…

Mmyy jjoouurrnneeyy iiss aallmmoosstt oovveer

Ttrraannssiittoorr…Ddaannggeer…Ttrraannssiittoorr…Ddaannggeer

Drenched, he looked to the sky through the blinding sheets of rain as if Hurakan himself would be there. Palm tree tops were pointing in a one direction from the wind.

Did I hear right? I’m in danger? From what?

Chapter 15

The storm surged on for two days, and Lucas never left Cali’s side. The bed became their home, and the storm the violent expression of the emotional rollercoaster he was experiencing. The lightning, thunder and gale force winds seemed to him both a warning and a reassurance. He prayed, just prayed, Cali would be all right. The basket of food from Ron and room temperature bottled water held them until the hurricane passed.

A thought flashed in his head. The only way to protect Cali was to get her out of Costa Rica. But that idea broke his heart. The one person in his whole life whose existence and happiness mattered more to him than anything; the one he wanted to grow old with…he had to get her to leave him. For now.

When he opened the door of her bungalow late in the afternoon the next day, he opened it back to his old life and shut it on their too brief and uncomplicated romance. She needed to head back to Wisconsin to her pharmacy job, and he needed to hightail it to Carmen’s to formulate a plan to deal with Alejandro, Anna, and the artifacts.

Holding hands, they stepped outside and blinked in the sunlight. The damage caused by the hurricane was beyond incredible. Lucas had been through storms before, but nothing of this caliber. Trees were down, some uprooted completely. Debris littered the resort. The hut built over Ron’s outdoor kitchen was completely gone. Twigs, dirt, and garbage littered their every step. Holding her hand tightly, they picked their way toward the main house. Ron told them about radio reports of thirty hurricane related deaths due to mudslides and mass flooding. He agreed to let them use his Jeep to get Cali back to Paquera.

Lucas gathered his belongings. “You’ll come to Carmen’s as soon as you’re packed?”

“Of course. I’ll be there as soon as I can,” she said.

He didn’t want her out of his sight for a moment. Her tousled hair gave him almost as much satisfaction as the tender kiss he left her with. Her lips were softer than silk. “Sounds good, see you soon.”

When he reached Carmen’s restaurant, he was relieved that the structure had sustained only minimal damage and nothing beyond repair. “Any sign of the demons?” he asked Carmen after an hour of cleaning. He’d explained his unsettling visit with Alejandro.

“No sign of them, but I don’t
feel
safe. How did it go with Cali—for two days? She’s a wonderful girl,” Carmen said.

“I just want her home safe. It’s far better for her to be as far away from me as possible. She’s meeting me here with Ron’s Jeep so I can drive her to the ferry.” He paused. “Tía, I want to give her my mom’s necklace…if that’s all right with you?”

She kissed him on the forehead. “
Claro, mi sobrino
.”
Of course, my nephew.

After Cali’s farewell and thanks to Carmen, they headed to Paquera, Lucas couldn’t shake the feeling that they were being followed. He kept checking his rearview mirror, but nothing…

Hurrying her off was the last thing he wanted to do, but Cali’s safety was paramount, and if demons were in the vicinity, the less they saw of her, the better.

Maybe someday he could explain.

She needed to leave his world mentally intact and return to the normality of her own. It was the right thing for both of them.
So why can’t I bear to say good-bye?
They parked and made their way to the ferry.

“Cali, I want you to have something.” He removed one of the two necklaces around his neck. “This has been in my family a really long time. I have two necklaces, one that is my father’s and one that was my mother’s.” He placed it gently over her head. “Never be frightened. Hold it and think of me if you are ever scared or in danger. Do you promise me?”

“Yes. But I want more than a necklace to remember you by. I want to see you again,” she said with misty eyes.

She clung to him with a desperation that weakened his resolve. “I promise I’ll try to call you, even though the phone service here is sketchy. We don’t have computers nearby, but I could write. Please believe me that I want to see you again, too. I
will
find a way to make it happen. How ridiculous does it sound to tell you that you’ve changed my life?”

She looked down. “How ridiculous would it sound if I asked you to go with me now?”

“If I could… I don’t want this—us—to end. I never thought this would happen to me, but…” He lifted her chin to look at her. “I fell in love with you, Cali. Thank you.”

“Lucas, I—”

“Shh…” Then he leaned and whispered in her ear. “I know someday our paths will cross again,
mi canción
.” My song.

After he saw her safely leave port on the ferry, it took all his energy to turn his body around and start walking back to the Jeep. Strange thoughts of a peaceful existence with her crept around the fringes of his mind. A faint smile formed on the corners of his mouth. If he got the demons off his path, maybe, just maybe, they could be together. Was there even a remote possibility? He shoved his hands in his pockets as a knot formed in his stomach, then a lump in his throat.

Don’t I deserve to be happy?

First order of the day was disposing of those demons. Then, he’d get Alejandro back on the right team. Then he would tell Carmen he was leaving, maybe permanently, pack, and go to wherever Cali was. And stay there.

****

Shane sprawled numbly on the beach next to Nara watching the seer’s bungalow. There’d been no sign of him all day. Either the seer was sleeping or not at home. It was irrelevant to him because he wanted no part in her family’s shenanigans.

“I’m starving. Do you think that restaurant we torched is reopened after the hurricane yet?” Nara stretched.

“Whatever. We can check, I suppose. Won’t they recognize us?” he wondered.

“We’ll get the food to go.”

As they were about to cross the muddy road to Carmen’s restaurant, they saw a Jeep pull up, and their seer jogged out of the restaurant and pulled off his cooking apron.

It was then that Shane’s world fell apart.

The car door opened, and Calise Rowe got out.

Shane recognized her immediately, and the whole world stopped revolving for him. Her body was tan and slim. Her shoe sank into the mud by the road, and she flipped her hair over her shoulder and laughed. Her mouth spoke words to the female seer he couldn’t comprehend. Her luscious blond hair bounced and reflected the afternoon sunlight. Then she did something he couldn’t accept. The whole thing happened in slow motion. She reached the seer and touched his cheek. Then she wrapped her arms around his neck and he lifted her into the air and kissed her. Slowly, tenderly, with carnal knowledge. As he carefully set her down, his hand ran down her side and his thumb momentarily caressed her nipple.

How dare that grubby insignificant human seer come near the love of his life?

He’d held his breath and his heart stopped when he saw Calise, but when the seer touched her, all his senses roared to life like his motorcycle on the first warm summer day of the season.

She was
his.

He opened his mouth and emitted a guttural war cry as he jumped forward to separate them. He had a fleeting thought: the seer could tell Calise he was a powerful angel. She would love him again.

Someone grabbed him mid-flight, and they tumbled in the air, fighting each other like two lovers rolling together in a tangled heap of limbs. It all happened in a split second.

He landed breathless in a group of shrubs fifty yards away from his heart’s desire. His pulse was thready and his breathing shallow, and his brain was pounding with some sort of warning knowledge he couldn’t bring to the surface.

Nara slapped him cold across the face. “What the hell are you doing? You’ll expose us,” she hissed.

He turned to challenge her. “That’s Calise with that seer. What’s she doing here? I have to get her away from him. But first, he can tell her what a beautiful angel I am, then she’ll see me in my glory and know how much I love her.” He grabbed Nara by the shoulders. “Do you think she’ll take me back?”