13

ADRIANNE HAD AN armful of colorful flowers when I opened the front door to her on Sunday morning. She offered them to me as she stepped inside. "If you weren't pregnant, I would've brought you beer instead."

"What are these for?" I asked.

"They're I'm-sorry-I-screwed-up-your-hair flowers." she said, slipping off her coat and hanging it by the door.

I touched the back of my short neckline. "Honestly, I love it. My hair has been long my whole life. If I'd known how easy this was to take care of, I'd have told you to chop it off years ago."

She forced a hesitant smile. "Really?"

"Absolutely. Besides, we got a great story out of it." I chuckled all the way to the kitchen.

"Yes, we did," she said.

"Thanks for the flowers though. They're beautiful."

"You're welcome. Oh! I didn't even notice the back wall. When did they get it finished?" she called from the living room.

"Uh, Thursday," I said, pulling out a vase I kept hidden under the sink. "We still need to paint it, and Warren has to fix the back deck, but other than that, the house is almost as good as new." She walked into the kitchen and I pointed at her. "You should have come over last week. One of the construction guys was hot."

"Too bad I missed that."

I thought of Azrael. "I know. Too bad."

"How did you do with the list this weekend?" she asked.

When the vase was full, I stuck the flowers into it, then carried the vase to the table. I put them in the center and picked up the notepad that was resting at my place. "Thirty-eight names and addresses. Voilà!"

She slowly clapped her hands. "I'm so proud of you," she said, taking the notebook from me. "We can knock these out and get them in the mailbox today."

"I'm sure I'll have a few more that I've forgotten about as we go through them."

Adrianne held up the small boutique paper bag. "We'll have extras."

She sat at the table and began pulling papers out of the bag.

Warren came downstairs wearing navy jogging pants with a stripe down the side and a fitted white thermal long-sleeve shirt. "Hey, Adrianne."

"Good morning," she replied.

"Nice flowers," he said, kissing me on the cheek. "From your other boyfriend?"

"Yep. He loves me more than you do." I sat next to Adrianne and picked up a pen. "Where are you off to?"

"Going for a run."

I frowned. "Gross. Have fun."

He nodded and jogged to the front door. "Hey, I told your dad we'd come by for lunch today at noon. Hope that's OK."

"That's fine, but why?"

"Beats me. Adrianne, you're invited too."

"Thanks!" she said.

He looked at his watch. "I'll be back in an hour or so."

"Don't freeze, and watch for cars!"

He closed the door behind him.

"Does he usually run?" Adrianne asked as she filled out the front of an envelope with my Aunt Joan's mailing address.

"Every day almost," I said.

She looked over at me. "Do you ever go with him?"

"Ha! You know that's a dumb question." I pointed to the stack of envelopes. "Hand me one."

"Does Azrael run?" she asked.

"Occasionally when he needs to talk to Warren and doesn't want me eavesdropping," I said. "He says he doesn't have to, though, to stay in shape."

She made a sour face. "I wish I didn't have to."

"You don't."

She laughed. "And I'm not in shape."

"Whatever. You look great."

With a little more flair than was probably necessary, she flipped the envelope over when she finished with it. "You know what? You're right. I do look great." She flattened her palms on the table. "And I'm perky and funny, and guys like me. A lot. Always."

"I agree."

"Then what's wrong with him?" she whined, dropping her forehead on top of her hands.

"Who? Azrael?"

"Ugh. Yes, of course Azrael. Who else would I be talking about?" She straightened and grabbed another blank envelope. "I know he's interested in me. Why won't he make a move?"

I'd seen her throwing herself at him, but I didn't see much reciprocation. "Not to be rude, but what makes you so sure he's interested?"

"When you and Warren aren't around, he's different with me. He's…I dunno, lighter, or something." Her eyes drifted to the side. "He smiles more. And he laughs a lot."

My face must have conveyed my doubt because she shoved me in the shoulder.

"I mean it. You don't see him when it's just the two of us. I know he's interested, but he won't admit it, and I can't understand why."

"You've got to stop trying to figure him out like he's a normal guy. There's no use in trying to make sense of anything he does because he's not human." I over-enunciated the last part slowly.

She clenched her fist around the pen and raised it in the air. "I know. He's so frustrating!"

"He's had a bazillion years to practice patience, Adrianne. You're not going to wait him out on this. Maybe you should take the next few weeks that he's gone to focus on other things. Focus on other people. Trust me, you don't want this life if you can help it."

"Are you saying you're not happy?"

"No, I'm very happy," I said, "but it's been so nice the past week with some peace and quiet. Azrael took Lamal with him to Claymore to hopefully give Abaddon and the others one less reason to rain down hell on this place, and it's almost been normal around here." I sighed and looked out the window. "I was beginning to forget what normal feels like."

A flash of Nathan holding my angel pin flickered through my mind, but I quickly dismissed the thought and turned back to Adrianne. Her face was sad.

I put my hand on her arm. "You deserve better." I wanted to shake her. "You always deserve better."

Her bottom lip poked out. "Why couldn't you have been born a man, Sloan? You're my soulmate. You know that?"

I smiled. "I know. I always will be."

She faked a cry. "Then why are you marrying some stupid boy?"

I laughed. "Two days ago you were jumping all over me for not doing enough wedding planning. Now you're mad because I'm getting married at all."

She sighed. "I'm gonna miss you, that's all."

"I'm not going anywhere," I said. "I may be marrying Warren, but you"—I pointed at her—"are stuck with me forever."

"Sloan, let's take your car," Warren suggested as he put on his coat.

I grabbed my keys off the hook by the door and handed them to him. "OK. How come?"

"The back seat is bigger. We don't need Adrianne's legs getting cramped," he said.

I wound my scarf around my neck. "You don't ever worry about my legs getting cramped."

Adrianne patted me on the top of the head. "That's because you're a wee little one," she said in a munchkin voice.

We walked out to my car, and Adrianne and I climbed into the back seat. Warren and Reuel got in the front. Adrianne surveyed our small space. "You're going to be driving a minivan before you know it."

"Bite your tongue!"

Warren laughed and backed out of my driveway.

It was a nice day in Asheville for February. It was cold, but the sun was bright and the skies were blue. The drive up the mountain toward my dad's house was beautiful, as always. Maybe Warren was distracted by the scenery too because he drove right past my dad's driveway.

"Uhh, you missed it," I said.

"Oh, you're right. I did."

Something in his voice caught my attention. "What's going on?"

Adrianne was trying to hide her smile by focusing out the side window.

"You guys are being weird. Something's up," I said.

Up the street, Warren put on the blinker and turned left into a wide driveway of a house that was built into the side of a small slope. It had a three-car garage on the lower level and a pathway that wound up to the front door. A black, luxury sedan was parked in the driveway.

"Warren, this isn't my dad's house."

He turned around in his seat and smiled at me. "I know. It's our house."

I blinked. "What?"

"Well, it's our house if you want it, anyway."

"Wait. What?" I asked again.

He laughed. "Get out of the car."

Adrianne got out first, then pulled me out of the back seat. A woman with auburn hair in a sharp business suit was getting out of the sedan. Warren walked over with his hand outstretched. "Thanks for meeting us, Linda," he said.

The two of them walked back to the rest of us. The woman smiled and reached to shake my hand. "You must be Sloan."

"Uh…Hello?" It sounded more like a question than a greeting.

"Sloan, this is Linda Cagle. She's our real estate agent," Warren said.

I shook her hand. "Um, I didn't know we had a real estate agent."

Warren winked. "Surprise."

I laughed a little nervously.

"Linda, these are our friends, Adrianne and Reuel," Warren said.

Linda shook their hands as well. Then she looked back at me. "Would you like to see inside?"

I looked at Adrianne who was nodding excitedly. "Sure," I said.

Warren took my hand. "I hope you're not mad."

"Mad?" I shook my head. "No. I'm shocked though. I didn't realize we were this serious about moving yet."

We started up the steps on the bank. "Well, I drove by it the other day and saw the sign. Turns out they'd just put it up that afternoon. I was the first person to call about it."

"Did you buy it?" I asked as we approached the front door.

He shook his head. "No, but I did make an offer. Contingent upon your liking it, of course." He leaned close and lowered his voice to a whisper. "You're going to like it. I promise."

I already liked the outside, and I really liked how close it was to my dad. But looking up at the two-story, like-new structure, I wondered how on Earth we would afford it. Neither of us had jobs with paychecks anymore, and this wasn't a cheap part of town. As sick as it made me, Azrael had set up a direct deposit to my bank account to pay the bills, but it certainly wouldn't cover anything like this. My stomach was flip-flopping between excitement and nausea.

But all that fizzled away when Linda stuck the key in the front door and pushed it open. I swear, trumpets from Heaven sounded as we stepped into the bright, massive living space. Two couches were centered on the shiny hardwood floor, angled around a massive stone fireplace that stretched all the way up to the wooden beam rafters of the high ceiling. Three of my living rooms could have fit between the fireplace and where we stood at the door. My silent, awestruck lips parted.

"I told you," Warren whispered in my ear.

"Is this what you were doing yesterday?" I asked.

"Yeah. I went by Linda's office to sign the contract."

"What did Azrael say?"

He cringed. "He has no idea. I haven't told anyone."

I laughed, really hard. "I've never been more proud of you."

He touched my arm. "Come on. I want you to see all of it."

The kitchen and dining area were in the same room, on the very far side of it. A heavy chandelier with tall pillar lights hung over a table large enough to seat everyone in our growing clan. Reuel went to inspect the kitchen closer, or to look for unsecured snacks. Beyond the kitchen, two French doors opened to the back deck that was screened in with rocking chairs and a built-in gas fire pit.

"The master bedroom is through here," Linda said, leading us through a large, dark wooden door.

The bedroom was massive, making the king size bed look like a double. And the bathroom…oh, the bathroom. It had a glass shower big enough to share and a separate tub that could have easily held two of mine from the townhouse.

I looked at Warren. "Where do we sign?"

He laughed and draped his arms over my shoulders, linking his hands behind my neck. "Yeah?"

"Absolutely." I took a step closer to him. "But can we afford this place?" I whispered.

"Yes."

"How?"

"I've got the down payment in savings, and we're on the Almighty's payroll now, remember?" he said with a grin.

He meant it to be funny, but it made me sad instead. Aside from our upcoming wedding, buying our first house was the most normal thing we'd ever done as a couple. The thought of it ultimately coming from Azrael's bottom line tainted the moment for me just a bit. Fortunately, those reservations were quickly squelched by the excited grin on Warren's face as he grabbed my hand and pulled me through a second door in the bedroom.

"This is supposed to be an office." He put his hand on my stomach. "But I was thinking it could be the nursery."

I put my hands on the sides of his face and kissed him. "I love you."

"I love you too."

On the same floor were two other bedrooms. The last one overlooked the mountains that were beginning to pop with the green of springtime. I stood in the doorway and looked out the window.

Warren slipped his arms around me from behind. "What are you thinking about?"

"My mom would have loved this place."

"Your dad said the same thing."

I smiled. "I want this to be Taiya's room whenever we get her back."

"I think that's a great idea."

I turned around in his arms. "We are going to get her back, aren't we?"

His face was serious. "I promise. If it's the last thing I ever do."

On our way home, we stopped at my dad's for lunch and told him the good news about the house. His eyes teared up when I said that in three weeks we'd almost be neighbors. It was then I realized that being so close to him would be the biggest perk of all, even above the giant bathtub and the fire pit.

When we got back to the townhouse, Adrianne came inside so we could plan out all our wedding planning stops for the next day. She picked up the stack of invitations that were still sitting on the table. "Hey, Warren. Can you put these out in the mailbox before we forget?"

"Sure."

He carried them out the front door, and Adrianne began making a list. "We've got the caterer at nine, and the flower shop said we can stop by whenever we have time."

"Put Brienne on the list too," I said. "I can't forget to go place the order for the cake."

Reuel spun toward me.

I laughed. "Yes, you can come."

"What kind of cake are you going to order?"

"Chocolate. Duh."

Warren came back in, carrying a stack of mail with him. He handed it to me. "This was in the box. Guess we didn't check it yesterday."

"Thank you." I thumbed through the stack until a simple, printed white envelope took my breath. "Uh oh."

"What is it?" he asked.

I held it up to read the return seal out loud. "U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigations." It was addressed to me. "I wonder what it is."

"You won't know until you read it," Adrianne said.

I gulped and tore it open. There was a white folded piece of paper with a small yellow sheet of paper inside it. The white page was typed.

---

Dear Sloan,

---

This letter was sent to Marisol Juarez's public defender the day before she died. It was written to you. I'm not sure what she is talking about. Hoping you will. Let me know.

---

Regards,

Agent S. Silvers

---

I opened the yellow sheet and saw Marisol's flowing cursive. She had the penmanship of a fairy godmother. "It's a letter from Marisol."

Warren looked over my shoulder.

"The woman who killed herself in the prison?" Adrianne asked.

"Yes."

"What does it say?"

I read it aloud.

---

Dear Sloan,

By the time this letter finds you, I'll be gone. I hope you don't feel responsible in any way for the decision I made. It is simply time for me to face whatever sentence awaits me from the only judge who truly matters. Perhaps, He will be merciful and reunite me with my Maria. That is my prayer. Either way, my heart is at peace knowing my little girl hasn't been in torment all these years, and I will be eternally grateful to you for sharing that with me.

After you left, I thought of a few more things you might find useful or interesting. Taiya's mother might be a woman named Melinda Harmon, or maybe it's Hamilton, I can't really remember. Several years ago there was talk of her being a problem, but I don't recall the details.

And finally, Phenex had a child before she took my daughter's body. I'm not sure what happened to her, but if she's alive, maybe she can help you. All I know is her name was Alice.

I sincerely hope I've helped you come closer to putting a stop to their evil. I only wish there was more I could do.

Yours truly,

Marisol

---

When I looked up at Warren, he was as pale as I'd ever seen him, including the day he died at Calfkiller River. "What is it? You look like you've seen a ghost."

His eyes slowly turned to meet mine. "Maybe I did. Sloan, I think Phenex's daughter was my Alice."

It took a moment for my brain to process the name, and when it did, I'm pretty sure my face turned as white as his. I covered my mouth with my hand. "Oh my god. Alice, the girl you were in the foster system with."

He sat back in his seat and stared up at the ceiling.

Alice, the little girl who had been abused by the child molester Warren killed when he was eight.

Alice, the teenager who had overdosed in Warren's arms.

Alice, the only family Warren had ever had.

I crumpled forward and buried my face in my hands. "I don't believe it. How can this even be possible?"

When I looked back at him, it was clear he was searching his thoughts. "Phenex took Maria's body because Azrael destroyed her first body."

I pointed at him. "And Azrael said Phenex was pregnant when he destroyed her and the baby lived."

"Alice would have been your age, Sloan."

I gulped.

He bolted up out of his seat. "We need to go."

"Go where?"

"I need to talk to Azrael."

"Azrael's not here," I reminded him. "You're going to go to Claymore?"

He didn't answer, but I could tell he was considering it.

I grabbed the tail of his shirt and pulled him beside me at the table. "Calm down and let's talk this through."

"I don't understand. What's going on?" Adrianne asked.

"Your pseudo-boyfriend is a big fat liar," I said.

"What did he do?"

"He likes withholding information." I pointed at her. "Which is another very good reason you should give up and move on." I turned back to Warren. "We're jumping straight to the certainty that it's the same Alice. Maybe it's a coincidence."

His loud laughter mocked me. "You, of all people. Did you use the word coincidence?"

I sighed. "OK, but why wouldn't he tell us this? Maybe he didn't know."

Warren shook his head. "He knew. How could he not know?"

"Who is Alice?" Adrianne asked.

Warren pushed his chair back. "You explain. I need to go think for a while." He walked through the living room and out the front door, slamming it closed behind him. He hadn't even bothered to put on a coat over his black t-shirt.

Adrianne nudged me. "Explain."

"She's a girl who was in the foster system with Warren when they were kids. She was horribly abused and then got mixed up in drugs when she was older. She died, Adrianne," I said.

Adrianne turned her palms up on the table. "Did Azrael kill her?"

"No."

"So why are you mad at him?"

"Because he knew and he didn't help her," I said.

Her brow crumpled with doubt. "I've noticed he's not the kind of person who decides to act or not act without a good reason."

"He's not a person at all. You keep forgetting that," I reminded her.

"It's a matter of semantics."

I brushed my new angled bangs out of my face to more effectively glare at her. "It's a matter of biology."

She ignored me. "You know what I think is really going on here? He didn't help Warren when he was a kid, and that's what you're really mad about."

I tossed my hands up. "Well, yeah! That's definitely part of it. Who abandons their kid and lets them grow up like that?"

Adrianne leaned toward me. "I don't know if you've noticed this or not, but Warren's a pretty spectacular guy."

"I know that."

"Maybe that's because of how he grew up. Did you ever consider that?"

I hadn't, to be honest.

"Maybe Warren turned out so great because Azrael did abandon him."

I let out a deep sigh. "I don't trust him, Adrianne." It was the first time I'd admitted it out loud. "I want to. I know that I should. I just don't trust Azrael."

She paused and studied the table for a minute before finally speaking. "Sloan, you're a very open-book kind of person. And you distrust anyone who isn't the type to throw all their business out on the table. You've got to get over that. Not everyone is like you. It doesn't automatically disqualify them from being a good person."

Dang.

"Why don't you tell me how you really feel?" I said with a smirk.

"I love you, and sometimes you need a bit of verbal bitch-slapping. Today is that day."

"Thank you?" I was more confused than truly grateful. But maybe she was right. I was the type to throw all my feelings out for the world to sort through, and it wasn't easy for me to trust others who didn't do the same. However, the man wearing a path on the sidewalk in front of my house with his frantic pacing was of the closed-book sort, and his anger superseded my own.

Warren didn't trust Azrael either, and that worried me more than anything else.

Warren came back in after a few minutes and went straight upstairs without a word. Adrianne got up from the table and picked up my notebook. "I'm going to let you go handle that." She nodded toward the stairs. "Shall I pick you up at eight in the morning? Maybe we can squeeze in breakfast at Sunny Point."

I walked her to the door. "Sounds good."

Her face twisted with confusion as she put on her jacket. "8 a.m. sounds good? You must be worried."

I laughed and shook my head. "I'll see you in the morning."

"Love you, freak." She pulled the front door open and walked outside.

"Love you too."

At the bottom of the steps, I took a few deep breaths. Then I took the stairs two at a time up to my bedroom. I heard Reuel's television on in the guest room as I passed by to my door which was closed. I knocked lightly, which felt strange in my own house. I didn't wait for a response before I eased it open.

"Warren?"

The shower was running in the bathroom.

I slipped off my shoes by the bed and walked to the bathroom. I pushed the door open and a wall of steam rolled over me. "Warren?" I called out softly into the cloud.

He still didn't answer.

When enough of the haze cleared, I saw his silhouette through the obscured shower door. I crossed the room and silently slipped out of my clothes. He didn't move when I slowly slid the door back. He was facing the shower with his arms braced against the wall, and his head was down so that water streamed all around his face. I could tell by the subtle shudder of his shoulders that he was crying.

Silently, I crept up behind him and wrapped my arms around him. He wept harder, and I tightened my grip around his middle. I rested my cheek against his spine and held him without the need to inquire what was wrong. When I was eight, my greatest trauma was being pelted with a rock; when Warren was eight, he killed a man to save his best friend. And years later it destroyed her anyway.

Even though he never said it, I suspected he may have been in love with Alice. It was in the watery far-off look that betrayed him whenever her name was said out loud. And it was in the slight hitch in his voice when he called her "my Alice."

"I should have saved her," he said loud enough for me to hear over the shower.

"There was nothing you could have done."

"Maybe if I hadn't been there. Maybe she wouldn't have gotten worse."

"Warren, if you hadn't been there, she would have died alone."

He heaved in a deep breath. "Do you ever stop and think about how sick all this is?"

"I try not to," I admitted.

He turned his face to look over his shoulder. "They did this to us, Sloan. They made me into a—"

"Shhh." I pulled on his arm to force him to turn and look at me. He did and pushed his wet hair back out of his face. I put my hands on his chest. "You listen to me. What you've lived through, most people can't even imagine in their scariest nightmares. And not only did you survive, but you became the strongest, bravest, and most selfless man I've ever met. Don't you ever, ever forget that."

He searched my eyes. "You know there's nothing I wouldn't do for you."

I touched his cheek. "I know."

He bent and when his lips touched mine, a hot swell of his power flowed into me. The nerves in my spine prickled with energy as his fingers slipped back through my hair and held my mouth firmly in sync his. My knees wobbled, but his right arm snaked around my waist, pulling me against his hard, wet body as he moved me back against the shower wall.

The tips of his fingers dug into my hip while his other hand took mine and pulled it up in the air between us. Pushing gently against my side, he spun me under his arm till my back was against his chest and my breasts were pressed against the cool, slick tiles. He flattened his palm on top of mine against the wall as he buried himself in me from behind.

Arching against him, I reached back for his neck as he bit my shoulder, and the world spun in and out of focus.