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Gabriel had sent her a not so polite request earlier today for her to return to the heavenly realm. Her fellow archangels saw no reason for her to linger here.
She’d sent an equally not so polite response. Shade was still on the plane, and that meant she was staying. Hiding out on the heavenly plane and pretending what was happening on earth and in hell wasn’t going to impact everyone was unmitigated stupidity. The weakening seals and busy demons on earth meant humanity was in trouble, and they were going to need all the supernatural help they could get. A spot of research was hardly a proportionate response. “I sent a message to Michael,” she said. “I stressed the importance of us getting involved.”
Dee cocked her head. “Why Michael?”
“He is not always in favor of Gabriel’s policy of wait and see.” She sipped her wine and was relieved that not needing to eat to sustain herself had saved her from Dee’s cooking.
Daniel held his plate up for more.
“Michael is more of a fighter than a politician or a archivist. If I can impress on him how serious the situation is getting on this plane, he’s the most likely to act,” she said.
“Good idea.” Daniel nodded and went at his second helping with gusto. “Have you heard from Shade?”
Dee stopped eating and stared at her intently.
“Not directly.” Sophia touched her temple. “But I can sense him on this plane. He went north and is continuing to travel in that direction.”
Dee’s bravado crumpled. “He has to find her.”
“He will.” Sophia took her hand and squeezed it. She prayed she was right. Eddie’s disappearance bothered her, and not only because it was gutting Shade, or that she liked Eddie, but more because it didn’t make a lot of sense. “I thought maybe an archangel might have taken her,” she said, voicing a fleeting suspicion. “But I checked with all of them, and there is no sign of them or their host having gone through any of the hell gates.”
“But a demon took her.” Dee frowned. “Ashe.”
“Yes.” And that was the part that made no sense to her. “But archangels can also be rather stubborn, and I wanted to cover that base. Eliminate the possibility.”
“Fuck.” Dee shook her head. “And we humans think archangels are the good guys.”
* * *
Shade parked his dusty pickup in front of his cheap motel room. With the hounds, he’d chosen not to fly and had glamoured his power signature down to almost human. The hounds lay in the covered back, concealed from nosy humans who would, no doubt, freak out if they saw them. Three days of traveling and nothing.
Wrath was in hell, and if there was any sign of Eddie there, he’d pick it up. Unfortunately, the hounds didn’t have their full power in the earth realm, but they were still the best option he had.
The hounds had him moving steadily north. Towns thinned out to smaller towns and finally just sparse outposts. He waited until there was nobody else around the quiet parking lot before opening the door to his room for the night and letting the hounds in. He hadn’t slept since he’d set out, and it was time to get some rest.
Wherever Eddie was being held, it was probably going to involve a fight to get her out. The angels swore blind she wasn’t in heaven, and as much as he didn’t trust those sanctimonious fucks, keeping her in heaven would make no sense. No, if the angels had taken her, they would have been far more likely to kill her.
On that cheery thought, he opened his bag of fast food and unpacked the contents.
Being on earth made him more susceptible to human needs. Although he didn’t need to eat and sleep as regularly as humans, he did still have those needs.
The hounds would need to feed soon, which meant he’d have to find some useless piece of human detritus and let them take its soul. Or a demon that was hanging out here when it shouldn’t be.
He made short work of his burger and fries and flipped the television channel to a news station.
Cronus and Xerxes sprawled on the other queen bed in the room, their huge bodies eating up the space. Both hounds had their eyes closed, but they weren’t sleeping. They were filtering out the input from their physical senses and letting their metaphysical senses take over.
Hounds fed on souls, which meant they could find souls, and they’d been hunting the ether constantly for signs of Eddie. Being bonded to her, they were particularly susceptible to the unique soul signature she gave off.
As much as he wanted to ask, he suppressed the desire. They would tell him as soon as they caught so much as a flicker of Eddie.
Shade concentrated on the news. If Eddie’s hell gate was unstable, it could mean the others weren’t faring much better, and the human news channels were his best source of information. Weak hell gates and missing demons didn’t need a physicist to piece together. If demons were escaping into this realm, they would bring havoc with them.
He read the ticker tape running along the bottom of the screen. An African dictator was making noise about reclaiming land from a neighboring country.
The news went from politics to crime. The news anchor was one of those interchangeable plastic looking faces with a trust-me expression and a weighty way of delivering their script.
The word rape caught Shade’s attention and he turned up the sound.
