The Seer's Lover (The Seven Archangels Series) (25 page)

Case in point.

“Why don’t you act like one? Why is your aura so dim?” A fair question.

Her mother slid back on the couch, out of contact. “You can see that about me?”

“Yeah, Mom. Compared to Ellen—”

“You’ve seen Ellen? What did she say?”

“She said I’m in terrible danger or something.” She prayed her mom wouldn’t hear the panic in her voice. She wanted Mom to say everything would be all right, like moms are supposed to do.

She wrung her hands. “Oh, it’s worse than that. Seers are hunted. Demons will do anything to prevent exposure. If even one demon is on to you, they will never stop until you are medicated, ruined, or dead.”

Not very reassuring.

She moved closer to Calise, pulling a stray hair out of her eye. “When? Or who? How…How did you get the
sight?
I’ve always known you had some very dilute intuition, but I tried to discount it. To protect you.
”

“To protect me? I thought I was crazy. Ellen just yanked me from a psych ward where I was involuntarily committed by a demon shrink!”

“What?” The front doorbell rang. “Don’t answer it!”

“Mom, it’s probably Ellen.” Calise shuffled across the freshly vacuumed shag rug and pulled open the front door.

She let Ellen in. After stiff pleasantries were exchanged and coffee was poured, the angels sat together, asking the questions.

“I met someone on vacation. We were…together. And he passed on the sight. He didn’t mean to, and I didn’t tell him he did, but…” She trailed off. “He gave me this necklace. The two times I’ve been in danger and held it, you two appeared out of nowhere.” She held up the necklace for them to examine.

After examining it, her mother held her head in her hands and began to rock back and forth on the couch. “You can’t
ever
use that again. Do you understand me? That demon is dead, but if I hadn’t come…No. No. No. I don’t want to be involved. I’ve been hiding so well. We’ve been safe so long.”

This was not going at all how Calise had hoped. She needed someone to tell her she wasn’t insane, everything would be fine, and the world she knew had merely changed to include the truth.

Her world would never be the same again, and Calise was fine with that. Learning her mother and best friend were angels meant that with this amazing knowledge came some serious Spiderman-level danger and responsibility. Her journey to Costa Rica gave her exactly what she wanted: truth and answers. No going back now.

She reminded herself that she was the one who sought this out—begged for it. She was the one determined not to back down. She was the one who left Lucas without telling him what she had become. Ellen and her mother would now count on Calise to hold it together when Satan’s minions were around.

Time to man up. My best friend and mother are angels. The man of my dreams knows I’m not crazy. And finally—for once and for all—I know that all along…

I’ve been right.

Her mother hyperventilated. Calise rushed to the kitchen, trying to recall where the small paper lunch bags were kept. Ellen’s warm hand landed on her shoulder, calming her.

After all these years, it was finally her turn to comfort her mother. Paper bag in hand, Calise returned to the living room. She and Ellen sandwiched her mother and she placed her arms around her. “Mom, please slow down. Talk to me. I can handle it.”

Her mom heaved a heavy sigh and her eyes glazed over with fear and shame. “I’m a terrible angel—Ellen knew it. We’re under no circumstances allowed to fall in love with a human and mate. I did that. I knew the consequences. I did it anyway. I fell in love with your dad, knowing he could never return the kind of love I could offer him, I just…” Her eyes began to brim with tears. “I chose to love him on a human level. I wanted to keep him and not overwhelm him. Angel love can make humans act foolish. I—I didn’t want him to worship me. I wanted—regular love.” She smiled.

Calise shifted uncomfortably. “So, let me get this straight. You just
dumbed
down
your angel-ness? You loved him less than what you were capable of so that you could have some kind of ho-hum existence and marriage? Holy hell, Mom, I can’t believe you dragged me to church every week with this crazy half-shuffled moral card deck you’ve been playing!”

Great. I’m still pissed at my mom even though she’s an angel of the Lord. Lovely.

Mom was shaking her head. “Cali, dear, you don’t understand. I thought if I could hide, live quietly, like a human, I wouldn’t be punished. But it hasn’t worked. Worrying has consumed my life for so long, and then when you and Dean came along—and you began to ask questions…”

She wasn’t making sense. “Mom, hide from whom? What consequences? What have you been so worried about all these years?”

Ellen sat back quietly with her hands folded in her lap as though she already knew all of this.

“Angels are sent here for one earthly life to restore balance, spread goodness to mankind. My love for my immediate family makes me neglect my real duties here. God didn’t send us here for one human or our own children, but for all people. I have disobeyed and have been cowering in a corner of shame and fear waiting for my punishment. Now, my time has come.”

Calise furrowed her eyebrows, and her mom slowed down for her human, only-using-one-percent-of-the-brain limitations. “Okay, Cali, for example, how far and to what ends should an angel go every day to improve humanity? In every situation we encounter we have the capability to go above and beyond and
inspire
. I stopped
inspiring
humans after your father fell in love with me. I decided to stop living as an angel and hide under the radar. I ignored my aura and willed it to go away. If I did nothing, maybe no one would see me. I
ignored who I really was to live like a human with a human.

“Angels, in love, love too deeply and can’t recover from loss of any kind. Why do you think a forty-two-year-old man just falls over dead while running, even though he’s extremely healthy? The wife is generally an angel. I’ve heard it too many times. I’ve seen it. The angel sometimes never recovers. God sent us to walk among you to love all of you. We aren’t here to be loved and certainly not worshiped. How did you feel the first time you really saw Ellen?”

Calise fondly recalled, “I couldn’t stop looking at her. She’s so beautiful. I hung on her every word.” She stunned herself with these frank words.

Mom collected their coffee cups and headed for the kitchen.

Following her, Calise realized that this most menial of tasks was being performed by an angel of the Lord. It appeared so…
ordinary.

Calise and Ellen followed her to the kitchen. Mom rinsed their cups. “Human love for angels can often turn to worship, a cardinal no-no. That’s why angels should only mate with angels.” She flashed a quick glance at Ellen. “Some angels mate with demons and play tug-of-war.”

“And demons mate with humans?” Calise asked.

“Tell her.” Ellen’s voice was commanding.

“Dean’s wife, Liza.”

“I knew it! I knew I couldn’t stand her.” Then the fact slammed her like a brick in the chest. “Why didn’t you stop that?”

The water ran in the sink and her mother rinsed another cup. She placed the cup upside down on a towel. “I couldn’t.”

“Couldn’t or wouldn’t?”

Calise’s cell phone rang. She didn’t recognize the area code. She was in overload and needed a breather. “Sorry, Mom, I have to take this.” She held a finger to her mother in the most significant conversation she’d had with her in all her life.

“Hello?”

“Cali, it’s Lucas.”

“Are you here?” Her voice carried the joy that was in her heart at the sound of his voice.

“I’m in Kansas with my dad. He’s sick, but when I take care of everything down here, I’ll come see you. Are you ok?”

“I’m perfect,” she lied. “But I’ll be better when you’re here.”

“I miss you—you have no idea how much.”

The pay phone receiver clicked on the other end. She snapped her cell phone shut.

If the weight on my shoulders is heavy now, what if I’m pregnant?

Chapter 23

Salina, Kansas

Carmen and Lucas waited until nightfall and lights-out before attempting to rescue his father, Estevan Rojas. The parking lot was lit by one dim light, and the small red brick facility appeared to be shrouded in darkness.

“My sources said he was showing signs of improvement at the nursing home—starting to talk. That’s when the demons came in with papers signed by us, apparently, to have him moved to this private psyche hospital.” Carmen said, breathing calm and steady. At the restaurant, she lifted totes that made Lucas struggle. Under that apron, his aunt was no frail woman. She rechecked her weapons.

“We have to get him out of there. That’s his window?” He pointed to a vine-snaked first floor window covered with rusty metal grates. The structure was surrounded by fields, and the hollow rustle of papery corn stalks whispered on the evening wind.

Carmen nodded. From watching the entrance, they knew only demons were employed here; four were on site at the moment. “Let’s go.” She picked her way to the window.

Rusting bolts allowed them to pull off the cage with minimal effort. Lucas took off his shirt and wrapped it around his hand, ready to smash open the window to his father’s room.

“Wait,” Carmen said, pulling up on the unlocked window. “Men and their brutish behavior,” she grumbled. She shook her head at him with a sigh and rolled her eyes.

Smiling, he gave her a boost and they crawled inside the dank accommodations.

Once inside, a skittering noise as if long nails were tapping on a countertop, made him pause. He flicked on his flashlight and watched dozens of cockroaches retreat under a small dresser. He crunched down on two more of the vile insects with his next step.

Carmen pointed to the bed, where a body lay covered with a thick white hospital sheet. Lucas watched the sheet rise and fall as he crept closer.

What have I done?

Lucas replayed over and over in his head the last time he’d seen his dad. His embarrassment at his multiple failures was no excuse for walking out on his father. His skin crawled; the man’s torment was his fault. When his father needed him to lean on, in his recovery, Lucas deserted him and now had allowed him to fall into the demons’ waiting hands.

Carmen jerked back the sheet and uncovered her brother. His wide eyes stared into the blackness around him. “Please, help me. They’re everywhere.” His gaze darted to and fro at nothing as tears bulged at the corners of his lids and ran into his ears and hair.

Damn the demons. I’ll send them all back to hell before this night is over.

Lucas touched a finger to his father’s clammy temple and could see his unrelenting vision. Surrounded by demons. Nails slowly sliced his flesh. Pointed teeth tested his skin. Red eyes watched his every move.

Cockroaches ventured back out, blanketing the floor and crawling up the legs of the bed.

“Dad, it’s me, Lucas. Your sister, Carmen, is here, too. We’re going to get you out of here.” Lucas turned to Carmen. “The hallucinations they’ve implanted are horrific. He sees demons around him, preying on him constantly. What can we do?” He surveyed his father’s emaciated form with rising malice. The core of his being trembled for the fight.

She ran the flashlight over his uncovered body. Lucas’s pupils adjusted to the dim light, aghast of what he saw. A straightjacket encased his torso. An IV pumped drugs into his vein via his thigh. Carmen worked on yanking the needle and plastic tubing out of his leg. Ankles in restraints, the demons even forced him to lie in his own excrement.

“I’m going to kill every one of them, so help me God…” Lucas worked at freeing his father physically, not knowing how to free him psychologically. “Dad. Look at me. They are illusions.”

Carmen worked on his feet. She hissed, “Shh! They’ll hear you and come and kill all of us.”

“Let them come.” Lucas let his emotions overtake him and, after releasing the straightjacket, knelt next to his father and held his hand. “I’m so sorry, Dad. This is all my fault. I never should have left you. I never should have left you,” he repeated through grated teeth.

Lucas’s father squeezed his son’s hand. “Son, is that you?” His eyes focused for a moment on Lucas. “My time is done, but yours is beginning.”

“Estevan, be still. You’re almost free.”

“Maria?” He shifted his eyes to his sister. “Maria—tell him—Glastonbury—the answers are there.”

Carmen stepped forward and cradled her brother’s ashen cheek in her hand. “No, brother. I will not allow it. It’s not yet time, and you cannot ask Lucas to do this!”

“
Hermana,
sister
,
“destiny always finds what it seeks.” His tense muscles slackened as the IV stopped dripping hallucinogens into his bloodstream. He slowly came back to reality.

Lucas frowned. “What are you two talking about?”

Carmen motioned to the small glass window on the door where three sets of glowing red eyes appeared. There was no time. The demons found them.

“Dad, we can talk about this later. We need to get you out of here, now!” Lucas tried heaving his father over his shoulder, but his dad put up a fight.

“My time is past. You two need to leave. Save yourselves. I can hold them. Lucas, give me a knife.” His breath came in short, staccato pants punctuated with a wheeze. “I’m not dead yet.” He rolled on his side and got an elbow under himself, intending to sit up, but fell back on the bed with a low moan.

“Carmen and I can handle this.” Lucas shot Carmen a hopeful glance.

Carmen’s eyes had the spark and anger of a warrior as she removed a short butterfly knife she had tucked in her belt. She flipped it around with a practiced hand that stopped Lucas in his tracks. “What?” she asked Lucas. “I used to be the best in our family with the balisong. I’ve kept my skills honed.”

Lucas was more of a fixed blade kind of guy.

A key slid into the door lock. Carmen and Lucas stood firm in front of Lucas’s father. Carmen hid the knife behind her back as the door slid slowly open. Three surly looking demons entered the room, their rotten egg scent preceding them. Two men and a woman, all dressed in pale green scrubs, sauntered through the door, and let it click shut behind them. The woman was unkempt, with tangled, shoulder-length brown hair and a lip curled up in a sneer of curiosity. “Well, who do we have here? More
seers
to torment, I hope.” Her eyes gleamed like rubies.