“Then do so,” I told him.
His gaze slid to River before coming back tome. “Privately.”
River stiffened against my side. “We willdiscuss it in front of her. There are no secrets between us.”
River gawked at me for a minute before asmall smile curved her mouth. She rested her hand on my chestbefore turning to focus on Magnus. “Away from them then,” Magnussaid quietly and waved a hand at the troops gathered behindhim.
I glanced over the hundred plus demons andskelleins gathered a few yards away. They were all more focused ontalking amongst themselves and examining some of the human weaponsthan they were us. The skelleins were busy drinking with increasingenthusiasm. If I didn’t know they fought just as well drunk as theydid sober, I would have called a halt to it.
I gestured for Hawk, Corson, Verin, Morax,Shax, and Bale to follow us away from the group and toward the backcorner of the room.
Magnus turned and waited for everyone tojoin us before pinning his gaze on River. “There is more going onwith you than meets the eye.”
“Excuse me?” she blurted.
I released her hand and wrapped my armaround her waist, drawing her closer against my side as my eyesnarrowed on Magnus. The others all exchanged a startled look.
“When I retreated here, I also spent a lotof time researching and reading through some of the many scrollsdemons have kept to document our history,” Magnus stated. “When Ilearned Kobal was searching for Lucifer’s child, I decided to dipinto the history of the humans who we know are descendants of thefallen angels.”
“How did you learn I was looking for her?” Idemanded.
“Word travels swiftly between yourfollowers, even those of us who remained within,” he replied with aflippant wave of his hand that set my teeth on edge. I reached outto break the fingers of that hand, but River seized my wrist andpulled it back. Magnus caught my intent and dropped his hand,folding both of them behind his back.
“And what did you discover?” Riverprodded.
Magnus cast me a wary glance beforecontinuing. “Some of them were extremely powerful, as you know.Others were different but managed to keep those differences hiddenfor the most part and slipped through unnoticed. Still, others weresome twisted pricks who inflicted a lot of damage before they weretaken out,” Magnus continued.
“I know this,” River said.
“We don’t know which ones were directdescendants of Lucifer’s line, and which ones were from the otherangels, but we do know many of those who were created by theangels. Jesus walked on water and turned water into wine. I amassuming these were illusions. The angel’s ability to castillusions is not as intricate as mine, but some do possess it.Abraham spoke with God. Moses parted the Red Sea—”
“Azote had telekinesis,” River said with anote of dawning understanding in her voice. “Which is probably whatMoses used for the water.”
“Yes. I also believe Moses possessed fireand telecommunication. Rasputin was extremely difficult to kill.Samuel spoke with God. Samson was undeniably strong. Daniel andElijah were prophets. Noah was also a prophet and lived to be averyold age, far longer than any mortal should. Jephthahalso spoke with God and offered up his daughter so he could beking.”
“Kobal believes my ability to draw on lifeis also what some of them had and why they were able to live for solong,” River said.
“Which makes sense,” Magnus said. “Eventhough you are part human, perhaps you could live to be nearly athousand years old like Noah, maybe more, but that is not whatmakes you different from the others of your line.”
“What does then?” Corson inquired as herested his hand against the rock wall and leaned on it.
“Over the course of six thousand years,there have been descendants who could cast illusions, speak withGod or communicate telepathically as some demons and angels can do,see the future, cause things to catch on fire, wield telekinesis,and survive thingsnonormal human ever could have.”
“And?” I prodded when Magnus hesitated.
“And not one of them was able to absorb thepower of life like she does.”
“I don’t understand. You just agreed thatsome of those descendants were most likely drawing on the pulse oflife around them in order to live to be so old,” River said.
“Yes, I believe that is true, but not one ofthem could turn it into a ball of energy and wield it as a weaponlike you do. The angels can, of course, butnoneof theoffspring of the fallen angels has ever possessed the ability. Yes,Lucifer is the strongest of the angels, both in Hell and Heaven,but he had other offspring, and none of them could wield life suchas you do. One of the documents I read theorized the ability to doso was the one thing that hadnotsurvived whatevertransition it was that the fallen angels went through. You areproof that theory is wrong.”
River rocked back on her heels beforeglancing up at me. My hand tightened on her waist as I contemplatedMagnus’s words. What did it mean that River could do it when noother had been able to before, or at least they’d never been ableto do it as powerfully as she could?
“Did the opening of the gateway to Hellcause the ability to manifest in her?” Bale inquired.
“No, I’d experienced the sparks before thegateway opened. Nowhere near as strongly as I do now, but it didhappen,” River said.
Her fingers went to where her necklace hadalways hung; they tapped against her bare skin before her hand fellaway.
