The Seer's Lover (The Seven Archangels Series) (32 page)

Please, Lucas, say it will be okay… Everything depends on how you react to this news; I should have told him alone.

The space between Lucas and Calise seemed like the distance between the earth and the moon. Silence hung in the air like that moment at the end of a symphony before the audience claps. She waited, stroking Stogey’s head.

He knelt in front of her and tenderly touched her stomach. “Mi canción, this child is a benedictión, a blessing. I feel in my heart, this was meant to be. Te quiero, mi amor.”

After the details of Calise’s safety were hammered out, Lucas hugged her from behind and pointed at her mom’s “brag” wall on the way out the front door. “I especially love that picture, Mrs. Rowe.” Nine-year-old Calise, with her bowl haircut, refused to smile for the camera.

“I’m going to be a grandma.” Mom’s aura grew a little bit brighter.

Chapter 30

Shane watched Alejandro slump down in front of the dust that was Anna. She and the
lure
were back in hell.

With the other men disposed of, he fetched a shovel and began the painful process of burying the still-born baby under a Banyan tree while Alejandro, unblinking, stared up at the heavens.

After he’d patted down the last bit of dirt, the sky blackened and clouds blew in from the horizon at an alarming pace. Everything was terribly wrong here, from Anna and the
lure
to the mob and their fate. Shane held out no hope that Alejandro would help him now.

He prodded Alejandro. “Hey, man, we need to get out of here. Something is coming in, and fast.”

Brushing himself off, the angel wiped away the last of his tears, and walked toward the ocean. “I’m staying.” He waded into the surf where the waves lapped higher and higher around his ankles. They crashed out at sea as the storm approached.

Shane followed him and had to yell over the deafening winds that were howling around them. “C’mon, we need to get to shelter!”

Alejandro turned and pushed Shane with the force of thirty men. Shane flew back and landed in the sand. The wind went quiet even with the black clouds swirling above them. An opening emerged in the eye of the storm directly overhead and a light shone down upon Alejandro. The light encircled him and lifted him off the ground, and Shane heard the heavens utter, “
Thyatira.”

Alejandro fluttered back to earth with glowing white wings.

One look from Alejandro in his glory and Shane was out cold.

****

The next thing Shane knew, a woman was mopping his brow, and he was flat on his back in a bed. He could smell Calise all around him and when he opened his eyes, he half expected to see her nursing him back to health.

Carmen turned from the sink with a washcloth and placed it on his forehead. “Where is Alejandro,
transitor
? What did you do to him?” she accused.

Shane’s mind was foggy and he struggled to focus, to remember. “Give me a bible.”

“What?” she asked.

“A bible, seer, now!” he demanded.

She opened a night stand drawer and produced a New International Version.

Shane flipped through it, angry that his
transition
had muddied the verses in his head. He stopped and tapped a page with his forefinger. “Here it is.”

He read:

“Revelations. Chapter Two: Verse Eighteen. ‘To the angel of the church in Thyatira: These are the words of the Son of God…I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first.’ This must be talking about Alejandro! It goes on, ‘Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess.’ That must be Anna. ‘By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality…I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways, I will strike her children dead.’”

Carmen backed away from him. “What does that mean?”

He snapped the book shut and his eyes glazed over as he answered her, “Your Alejandro is one of the seven archangels of the apocalypse. Anna was his Jezebel. The prophesies are fulfilled. If the other six angels are on earth too, that means we have reached the beginning of the end.”

Chapter 31

Eight months later

Lunchtime in Russia

Nara was not doing well with bed rest and even worse without Shane by her side. Liza kept trying to placate her with words of his important errands and assured her that he called to check in on her from time to time. Nara bought none of it.

Damn this baby. Shane had better be tied to her forever for what she was enduring for him. Weeks and weeks she had kept quiet, resting, brooding. If Shane had gone to see Calise, she’d…

Whore, slut, bitch. Calise needs to die. End of story.

As soon as Nara was able, that would be her first order of business. Thirty-some weeks pregnant, bed bound, and Liza bringing her healthy meals and snacks three times a day. She’d rather be back in the pit. Speaking of Liza, where was her lunch?

“Liza! I’m starving in here. Call the States and have three cases of cookies shipped here immediately!”

No reply.

“What does a girl need to do to get a LITTLE SERVICE around here?” she yelled. “Screw it, I gotta pee.” Nara eased herself out of bed for her third excursion to the bathroom this morning. When she stood up to walk back to her bed, she knew immediately something was very wrong. It felt like a dam broke in-between her legs and fluid followed her back to bed.

Her water broke.

“Liza! Call a doctor! HELP!”

It’s too soon.

No way was she going to endure all this, and lose the baby now. She rolled herself back into bed. Liza ran into the room, took one look at what was happening, and disappeared.

The contractions came in waves over the next few hours. Liza mopped her brow and spoke softly while the doctor made preparations for the birth. “Is the baby okay?” Nara choked out between contractions.

“We’ll have to wait and see,” the doctor said.

There was no soothing Nara who
demon-strated
and laughed when the contractions were at their worst. Night was falling at the orphanage when she finally pushed out a crying baby girl.

“The baby is healthy,” the doctor said after checking the infant over.

Dripping with perspiration, relief washed over Nara. Not relief that she had delivered a perfect baby girl, not relief that Shane had progeny, but relief that she would now get on with her life. She needed to get back to work.

“Get out,” Nara said hoarsely.

Liza helped the doctor wash and swaddle the baby. Rocking the baby gently, she edged closer. “Don’t you even want to hold her?”

Nara sighed. “Draw the drapes and kill the lights and let’s see what we’ve got here. Human, angel, or my dream come true.”

Liza did as instructed and turned to display the baby to her mother.

Nara hoped but never expected…

The eyes glowed a stunning garnet red under a tiny porcelain face. Tufts of black hair covered her fragile head.

Shane and Nara’s baby was a perfect little demoness.

“Hmm.” Nara patted her quickly on her fuzzy head. “Not bad.” She glared at Liza. “This one, you can hold longer and feed more. I’ll be back for her when the time is right.”

“Where are you going?” Liza demanded.

Nara was already healing, and her pain was abating. She sat on the side of the bed. Good thing demons heal faster than humans. She needed to get Shane back here, and now, and she knew just how to do it.

She smiled to herself.

****

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Calise never wanted to be a mother until she met Lucas.

She wanted
his
child.

Elated that she was pregnant, he doted over Calise, treating her like a princess as the months passed. He and Stogey moved into her apartment, and he spent every waking moment helping her adjust to her life as a seer. Life became almost routine. They languished in bed for hours, growing more and more inseparable.

He got a job cooking at a local Italian restaurant where his expert pizza-making skills were celebrated. After his weekend shifts, they would meet at the Coffee Trader on Downer Avenue and talk about life. He made her practice ignoring the occasional angel or demon they encountered. They stayed on their guard, but nothing unusual happened.

No Shane. No Nara.

****

To her, life was like floating in a dream.

Until the night he opened up about his past: his hunter parents, his mother’s murder, his father’s withdrawal into himself, and Becca—her pregnancy,
her suicide.
Days before she was due to deliver, he flung open the door to his past over a decaf vanilla latte.

“I’m sorry to lay this all on you, but you need to know why you—and this baby—mean everything to me.”

Like the first time she heard it, his voice was still an aphrodisiac to her. He rubbed his necklace between his thumb and forefinger like he always did when they were together, as if it would ward off all the evil around them.

She stared at him. He wore perfect fitting jeans and a Violent Femmes t-shirt from the concert they saw at SummerFest. His tousled hair made him look like he just rolled out of bed after a good lay and his penetrating eyes bored into hers. “I understand, Lucas. After everything you’ve been through, I can’t complain about anything. I went from thinking I was crazy my whole life—to meeting you—becoming a seer—having you help me adjust to this life… I love you, Lucas. One day at a time, together…we can do this together.”

When she spoke to him, he had a way of making her feel like she was the only person on the planet, and what she said might change the course of history.

Even at this late hour, the place bustled with activity. The door jingled and warm summer air breezed in, as people came and went. Flyers in a rainbow of colors dotted the walls where people were trying to sell a couch or find a roommate, and the papers blew up in the draft whenever the door opened.

“My parents fought demons all their lives until it destroyed them. I don’t want that for us. I want us to be safe. But Cali, I don’t know how to keep us safe and that scares me to death.”

He was trembling and holding her hands across the table when her first contraction hit.

The baby was coming.

Now.

She clutched her stomach. “It’s time.”

He spilled his coffee when he lunged for his cell phone to call Ellen, their obstetrician. She and Calise’s parents met them at Saint Joseph’s Hospital.

Hours of labor easily forgotten the moment Ellen handed her the baby.

We have a son. I gave birth to Lucas’s son.

No moment in her life ever mattered more than handing the man she loved his first-born child to hold. She memorized his face. He bent over her and carefully extracted the bundle. Watching a large, strong man cradle someone so tiny and perfect melted her. No artifact in the world could have been handed to Lucas that he would have handled with greater care, than his son.

His eyes glassed over as he examined the ten fingers and toes. A wide smile lit up Lucas's face. Then, he kissed his son on the forehead. “
Bienvenido, hijo. Que Dios te bendiga y le protégé.
” Welcome, my son. May God bless and protect you.

She cried tears of happiness and let them flow freely because the three of them were together. Ellen and her parents hovered behind Lucas vying for their turn to hold the infant.
This is the happiest moment of my life.

Her mother fished in her purse. “Honey,” she said to Calise’s beaming father, “I forgot the camera in the car. Will you go and get it?”

“Sure, babe.” He winked at his daughter before he left the room. “I’m so proud of you, Kiddo.”

“Thanks, Pops.”

The instant the door clicked shut Ellen ordered, “Donna, get the lights. I have the shades.”

“What are you guys doing?” Calise asked weakly from her hormonally induced state of bliss.

The instant the lights clicked off she knew. The three of them crowded around the baby. Calise strained to see until Lucas held the baby up. His eyes glowed just like Ellen’s and much stronger than her mom’s.

Lucas and I gave birth to an angel.

Ellen sprang into action. “Ok. I’m going to get angel guards on duty. I need to call my contacts and tell them there has been another angel birth.” Ellen lurched into overdrive.

“Ellen. Chill.” She laughed. “It’s all good. Go do what you need to do.”

Ellen hurried for the door of the room and with one hand pushing down the handle, she said, “I forgot to ask, what’s his name?”

“Michael. His name is Michael.” The name just came to her.

Ellen’s eyes caught Calise’s mother ever so briefly.

She looked to Lucas for his approval. “
Hola, Miguel. Soy su padre
.” Hi, Michael. I’m your dad. He kissed him again on the forehead, rocking him gently while the baby slept.

Ellen looked at her friend with love. “Appropriate, Calise. Very appropriate.”

The telephone next to the bed rang and Lucas jumped. “Who even knows we’re here?” he wondered.

“Maybe it’s my brother, Dean,” Calise suggested.

“Would you mind?” Lucas said handing Michael over to her mom.

She rolled her eyes. “Finally!”

“Hello?” Lucas answered. “Hola, Tía. The baby is here! What?…When? How long have you been looking?” Lucas glanced at Calise. “No, I can’t come. Who’s Raphael? Didn’t you hear me? Cali just had the baby and…” His shoulders slumped. “
He’s
been helping you?”

Calise’s anxiety swelled. No way he’d leave her? Not now with the baby here.

“What bible verse?” Lucas heaved a sigh. “Okay. Yeah. I’ll let you know…Sure I’ll tell her. Adiós.”

Calise and her mother stared expectantly at Lucas while he slumped into the closest chair.

“Alejandro’s gone. Anna’s dead. And your ex-boyfriend witnessed the whole thing. He’s been helping Carmen search for Alejandro for months. Now, she’s in an all out panic because Shane left, and Carmen wants me to come and unearth our family’s remaining artifacts. She also says congratulations.”