Keenan tossed a fast glance over his shoulder. Nicole had started to edge out of the truck. “Stay back there!” He barked. “Don’t let him touch you!”
One touch was all that death needed. Since Nicole couldn’t see Az coming, she’d be helpless against that simple touch.
Keenan put his body between Az and Nicole. He didn’t want the guy so much as looking at her. “What are you doing here?”
Az blinked. “You know why I’m here.” He shrugged. “You know why I’m always here.”
“Death.” It’s what they were. All they knew.
“Relax. Just because I’m here, it doesn’t mean she’s dying tonight.”
“No, she’s not.”
Az gazed at him with those glittering eyes. “But a soul will pass soon.”
Nicole’s soul. Fury had him stepping closer to Az. “Why?”
“The job was never finished.” Said simply. Az wore clothes any mortal would possess—jeans, a white shirt. He could have passed for a human … if those giant black wings hadn’t been bursting right through the back of his conjured shirt. An angel could always conjure any clothing to fit over his wings.
“The job is over,” Keenan told him as he braced his body for attack.
Az didn’t move. “You know she’s marked for death.”
Keenan shook his head. “No. She lived that night. Fate changed.” He’d made it change.
“It’s not that easy, and you know it. You can’t just switch one soul for another. That’s not the way it works.”
“I didn’t fall …” Just to lose her.
Az watched him in silence. Then, after a moment, Az told him, “Her name’s in the book.”
Az’s famous book. Once a scroll, now a Who’s Who List of the To-Be-Dead. The book included the names of both those deemed blessed and those deemed damned.
Once the name was in the book, there was no going back. So the stories said.
“How long does she have?” Keenan asked, voice rough. If her name had just come up, she’d have forty days. After forty days, the soul had to be taken from the charge’s body.
Only he hadn’t taken her soul before.
And it won’t be taken now.
“Ten days.”
What?
“Maybe less.” Az shrugged. “I truly thought it would take you longer to find her.”
“You mean you wanted her to already be dead before I found her.”
“She is dead.” Az raised his hand and pointed behind Keenan. “She’s already marked. Her fate was sealed. There’s no changing it.”
“Bullshit.”
Az’s brows rose at that. No, he wouldn’t be used to one of his soldiers cursing.
Bullshit. One of Nicole’s favorite words. Nicole. She’d hear everything he said, but no word that Az spoke. “Fate changed before, it can change again.”
“Why?” Az showed the barest hint of an emotion. Curiosity. “Let her go. What does it matter if she lives or dies?”
Keenan wouldn’t take his gaze off the angel to look back at her. “It matters to me.” That was all Az needed to know.
Az sighed. “You’re wrong, you know.” His wings brushed against the pavement. “I didn’t want you to arrive and find her dead. That would have served no purpose for me.”
His gut clenched. “What is it that you want, Az?”
“She doesn’t matter to me. She’s just another charge. There are thousands, millions more just like her. They’ll die, just like her.”
Nicole’s soft gasp filled his ears.
Why would she gasp? Why would—
“Angels shouldn’t fall,” Az continued, his voice coming faster. “Angels shouldn’t burn. Angels shouldn’t suffer.” Now he was the one to step closer. “We’re better than the humans. Stronger. So much more powerful.”
But the angels weren’t the favorites. No, the humans were the ones who’d been given the gifts. Hope. Love.
“Angels shouldn’t fall,” Az said again.
“I did.” And thanks for the heads-up, Az. That whole “I’ve heard it’s the fire that makes you scream the loudest” line really hadn’t helped.
“You fell … and you can rise.”
Those words seemed to cut through him. He’d never heard of an angel going back, not after—
“It’s simple, Keenan. I know she’s your temptation. We all have our trials. Prove you are stronger. Finish your job. Do what you were meant to do …”