The Seer's Lover (The Seven Archangels Series) (24 page)

“I know Gotzone is just a horse, but she’s been my best friend and companion since the day you gave me this job. Can you take extra good care of her? Ride her as much as you can?”

Ron helped him take the saddle and bridle off. Lucas brushed her down.

“I promise,” Ron said.

Gotzone nuzzled Lucas with her muzzle. “Thanks for always being there for me and saving me more times than I can count.”

Gotzone nickered and shook her head up and down.

“I’ll be back to visit, but just as you’ve protected me, I now have someone that needs my protection.” Lucas stroked the side of her head. He leaned in by her nose and shared each other’s breath one last time. He whispered to her. “I only hope I can do as good a job for Cali as you’ve done for me.

“Maybe this is all happening for a reason,” Ron said. “Anna gone and now you leaving. Maybe Gotzone is destined to be my salvation in all of this. I am the one who gave her a name that means ‘angel’.”

Lucas gave Gotzone one last carrot, polished her saddle and bridle, gave her a cool bath, and set one of his best friends out to pasture. “Thanks, girl. Thanks for everything.”

The men shook hands. “My home is your home my friend,” Ron said in farewell.

Lucas walked back to his hut to collect his belongings and say a quick farewell to Carmen. Before reaching his hut, Jody came running up the road from the restaurant.

“Lucas,” she panted, “your aunt got a call. I was sent to get you. It’s about your father.”

They ran back to the restaurant. Carmen was holding onto a wall with a haunted look in her eyes.

“What is it, Tía?” Lucas gently shook her shoulders.

Carmen moved slowly and whispered in Lucas's ear. “They have your father. Demons took your father.”

****

Lucas and Carmen caught the first plane home to Salina, Kansas. Carmen fidgeted sitting next to him on the plane. “It’s been a long time since I’ve spoken to your father. I never forgave him for marrying your mother and passing on the
sight
. Then she gave birth to you, and they continued to fight demons. I never agreed with them. I always thought it was best to hide and protect the artifacts.”

Lucas had so much love for his aunt after these years in Costa Rica. Her fortitude and quick thinking had kept the family’s secrets safe most of her life. Once again, it was his short temper and lack of foresight that had exposed them. More guilt rattled around in his head like coins in his childhood piggybank. He made another hefty deposit of guilt.

“It’s my fault, Tía. I didn’t understand why my father shut down after mom was killed. After Becca died, I ran away like a coward, figuring Dad would be safer in an institution. If you hadn’t taken me in, got me a job, and gave me a place to live…” He held her hand. “You’ve explained more to me than my father ever did. I’m so sorry.”

She quickly wiped away the tears that’d escaped her eyes. It was the first time he saw her own struggles for what they were instead of just selfishly concentrating on his own problems.

“Lucas, I didn’t know about anything except your mother’s death. I should have been more sympathetic when you came to me. All I did was send you directly to Anna, to test you and see if you’d withstand her seduction. And you passed, the first time. I was hurt when you arrived because I was angry with myself for not getting to know you before then. Forgive me.”

“That’s enough of our regrets. Now, we need to worry about Dad. By the way, do you think Anna is on our side now? Are the artifacts safe?”

She sighed deeply.

“What is it? What do you know?” he probed.

“Anna is on our side as much as she can be. She has her own artifact she’s been playing with in her lifetime. A
lure
. The same
lure
that Lucifer carried in the desert to tempt Christ. Christ was weak and hungry and followed Lucifer through the temptations. Of course, the Son of God would not succumb. But Anna has used this
lure
to capture humans, sexually. She’s ruined countless lives.

“She is on our side in that she and Alejandro are paired essences. I guess it would be like angel soul mates. They were together in heaven before she
fell
in her one earthly life. Her memories of heaven and Alejandro were diminished when she
fell
. But when they saw each other again… Well, Alejandro is out of sorts. He loves her, with or without that
lure
. She won’t hurt him.”

Lucas shifted in his seat. “So, give her the thorn and redeem her.”

“Ah, that would seem to be the answer. However, she would
ascend
and Alejandro would remain here. Remember, he has been at this voluntary post for almost two thousand years. She doesn’t know when he’ll return so she is loathe to leave him, even to be saved.”

He watched the cloud cushion beneath the airplane. Snow white, thick, puffy, and inviting. What a beautiful childhood myth of cherubs playing harps and frolicking on cloud tops. He wished that was what angels really did. But for him, it was just another shattered childhood myth. As the plane began its descent, he nudged Carmen. “When we get to the States, remind me to call Cali. I sent her a letter, and she thinks I’m on my way to see her.”

Absorbed in her own thoughts, Carmen nodded absently.

Lucas wondered about everything she had given up for their family and what, or who, he would have to give up next.

Chapter 21

Shane’s mind was mush, like a never-ending hangover.

Guilt. Fear. Regret. Shame.

Nara had been here in his prison many times to teach him, or was it Calise? No matter, because he didn’t deserve either of them. How long had he been here? Hours? Days?

He felt like a battering ram had split open his skull, removed any remaining shards of decency, and left him an empty shell. He
wanted
to be erased from existence.

He let out a sigh of impatience for his impending fate. Father would erase his pathetic excuse for a soul in a few short months. As the last of the heroin left his system, his stomach churned and chills overtook him. His keeper was merciful in allowing his feet to remain on the floor even while his wrists were held by shackles screwed into the moist, dark stone of the wall. His abused manhood was covered with a dirty rag tied around his waist.

He was in a dungeon. Most of the shackles and chains in the room seemed too small to wrap around his wrists or ankles. Blood pooled on the floor around the woman who was quietly sobbing nearby. Her wrists were being rubbed raw by the tight handcuffs. He vaguely recalled the feats of submission he was asked to perform.

Even through the haze of the drugs, Shane flinched remembering the humiliation and degradation Nara used to puncture his psyche. He abhorred his flat, dimensionless self. She had wounded him, deeply—maybe destroyed his will entirely.

Dried blood and chunks of hair were scattered amidst fragments of rags strewn haphazardly on the floor. A repetitive dripping sound came from one corner where water leaked from the ceiling. A small assortment of rods and sticks and horse whips lay near the door, some of which Nara had employed in her time with them.

Shane had fully submitted to Nara’s will. The easy way out, but he didn’t care. Only whispers of memories from college days hovered on the periphery of his mind. Memories faded like fog on a mirror, and he welcomed their retreat to the furthest recesses of his mind. But love and pain had a life force of its own and wanted to stay put like a stubborn, heavy dresser that refused to budge.

The woman spoke first. “What happened to you, Shane?”

He cocked his head at her, wondering why she was addressing him like an old friend. “What are you talking about?”

The woman shifted in her cuffs, wincing. “I’m Liza. Liza Rowe. I’m Dean’s wife and Calise’s sister-in-law, but I don’t think Nara knows about our connection. You were at my house a few years ago at Easter.”

He squinted through the haze in his mind, knowing this was one of many memories he should be burying. He let it surface and remembered reprimanding the demon and lecturing her on how to live a better life and rise or face his wrath.

Some angelic wrath he was dealing out now.

He looked down at himself, embarrassed. Thinking about his former self was like watching a show where he was the star, but he couldn’t remember playing the part or saying the lines. He watched the memories of his life with Calise and his life as an angel from the outside looking in.

“I remember,” he whispered. “Isn’t it obvious? I
fell.
Is that what you wanted to know? Are you happy now? Smug at where I’ve ended up?”

Liza shook her head. “No, I pity you. I pity the strength and fortitude that you lost. I pity that you lost your first love. But mostly, I pity that Nara wants you to love her. Their family…” She shuttered and closed her eyes, letting the tears run freely down her dirty face. “Nara’s family is…is it true that Abaddon is incapacitated?…and
Nara’s
in charge?”

Shane shrugged and looked away.

“Ronwe dead? How? Abaddon hurt? Nara at the helm? This is terrible news, for all of us. She’s the worst one in the family.” Her eyes widened in fear.

His
family. A family he was desperately trying not to care about. He had to ask. “Terrible news for all of us? What do you mean? What is this place anyway, and why in the hell are you here?”

“You’re in a Russian orphanage. Abaddon runs several of them and calls in demons who owe him favors to run them. That’s why I’m here. I owed him a favor for funding law school and supporting me. My debt was called in, and I left Dean and my son, Max. I…I miss them. The orphans here are all angel babies like that one she showed you.” Liza’s voice became so intense and low that he strained to listen and keep up. “We’re instructed to deny them basic needs to destroy their youth. This place is killing me. All I can think about is Dean and Max. Nara will kill them if I don’t comply with her every command. Word was leaked that I’ve been
too nice
to the kids. For example, this dungeon is meant for the children, and regrettably, this is the first time I’ve been down here. Shit, I can’t believe she came here to discipline me herself.”

He stared at Liza, processing the information. “Maybe she’s looking for a kindly fiend to help rear our baby.”

“She’s pregnant?”

“So she says. That baby she brought down here…do you remember when it was brought here?”

Liza nodded. “Abaddon had it sent from the San Jose airport.”

He slumped. “I kidnapped that baby for Abaddon. That’s how I
fell
. You mean to tell me that child isn’t back with Father? That child is here, and
you
are abusing it?”

Liza nodded feebly again.

Shane straightened up. “I have to get out of here and take that child with me.”

The door to the dungeon swung open, and Nara glared at Shane. “Oh no, baby, you most certainly do not.”

****

Nara turned sideways in the door and rubbed her belly. “I thought you wanted to see your own baby and raise it with me, lover.”

A wave of nausea overwhelmed Shane, and he retched.

Nara approached, then gingerly wiped his mouth dry. She kissed him hard on the lips, licking the remnants of his vomit. “Everything that comes out of you tastes good, lover. So, which is it? Do you want to try and run away or stay and with me and raise our child?”

Shane watched Liza as she cowered in the corner, trying to be invisible.

With Nara carrying his unborn child, he would do anything in the world to protect the baby. Even if that meant leaving this orphanage with only Nara.

He hung his head. “You and our child are the most important things in the world to me. Whatever is your desire, I will do it.”

Liza shot him a furtive glance. He was not strong enough to fight Nara and his fleeting thoughts of heroism and hope waned.

Nara unlocked his wrists and ankles.

Just as Shane was massaging his bruised and aching wrists, Nara fell to the ground and let out a moan as she grabbed her stomach. He rushed to her side and brushed her hair back to see the pain in her eyes. “What is it?”

“The baby…” Nara moaned and swallowed hard. “Call a doctor.”

Shane glanced at Liza, grabbed the keys that were used to unlock him, and moments later Shane and Liza carried Nara upstairs.

He would
not
let her lose his baby.

Chapter 22

Calise cradled her coffee and stared at her mom—the same woman she’d known all her life but someone she didn’t know at all. Her mother, Donna, took a tentative sip from her coffee and smoothed out the cushion next to her. Her aura was faint, nothing close to the blinding glow that Ellen exuded, almost as if she was trying to forget
what
she was.

Calise scratched her head. This was a tough conversation to start and her mother was no help, so she tossed around some opening lines in her head.

So, you’ve always been an angel?

Duh.

Have you killed a lot of demons, Mom?

What if the answer was yes?

Does Dad know?

Calise was sure he didn’t, and that he was a regular human.

She just opened her mouth and blurted out, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Her mother first raised an eyebrow, then smirked, then busted out laughing.

“What, Mom? Seriously.” Calise couldn’t remember thinking of her as more than a judgmental regular mom or a guilty conscience in her life until now. But Calise’s new eyes were slowly opening to the idea that she was talking to a woman who was a mother, a wife, a child, a worker…a being…
an
angel!

Her mother placed her coffee cup carefully on a coaster on the pristine table and got up and moved to the loveseat next to her daughter. She looked Calise square in the eye and squeezed her knee. “Honey, would you have believed me? You never even listened to me when I told you that you should wear a hat in the winter so as not to catch a cold.” She was smiling with love in the twinkle of her eyes, chiding and teasing the daughter that had questioned her at every juncture.

She let the words settle in her mind and of course, her mom was right. The Calise she knew would have told her something snippy like, “If you think you’re an angel, why don’t you act like one?”