“Then why not show yourself?” I demanded.
A raven swept out of the darkness to land fifty feet away. Its talons ticked against the ground, rainbow colors reflected off its feathers when it folded its wings against its sides and settled away from the oracle. The bird stood nearly three feet tall and weighed at least a hundred pounds.
“I’ve shown myself,” the raven murmured and River gasped. “As you can see, I could have remained hidden from you. Could have followed you wherever it was you are going and reported to Satan… I mean Lucifer. Even if you scented me, you would not have been looking forme.”
“What the fuck is with the talking bird?” Hawk blurted.
“It’s not a bird,” Bale said and drew her sword from the holder on her back.
“I am not here to fight any of you,” the raven stated.
River stepped out from behind me. I held my arm in front of her as my body tensed in preparation to attack. If that bird so much as ruffled a feather the wrong way, I’d pluck it bare before shoving its beak up its ass.
I searched the shadows for more enemies. Within me, Phenex and Crux stirred in preparation of a battle, but I kept them locked away when I sensed nothing else out there. That didn’t mean the fallen angels couldn’t be somewhere nearby, waiting for their chance to launch an attack against us. They could have sent the raven as a distraction.
Hatred coiled within me when my gaze returned to the raven. I despised the angels in Heaven as much as the ones in Hell. I didn’t know what any of the angels sought from River, but I knew none of them would care if she lived or died if it got them what they wanted from her.
Every instinct in me screamed to go for the raven, to attack and kill, but I wouldn’t leave River’s side until I knew what was going on here. If I moved away from her, an angel might come from somewhere else and try to take her. When she was stronger, she could fight them off and cause a lot of damage, but she was too weak for that now.
“Lix, take the skelleins to the other end of the cavern. Get behind the raven and keep an eye out,” I commanded.
“My brothers and sisters are not here, and they do not know I am,” the raven said.
“That’s either extremely good or bad for you. If you’re setting us up, I will take the time to make your death especially excruciating,” I vowed.
“I have no doubt,” the raven replied.
River’s brow furrowed as she stared at the bird. “Caim?” she inquired.
River identified more with her angelic side than her human or demon side. Because of that, she’d known the fallen angel Azote’s name too when he attacked her, yet she hadn’t recognized what Angela was. I suspected that was because Angela wasn’t truly an angel, but something the angels were using to communicate with River.
The raven’s head tilted to the side; its ebony eyes shimmered with colors while he studied her. “Yes,” the raven replied.
“How did you find us?” I demanded.
“I’ve been flying over much of Hell in search of you. It occurred to me you would know the angels never come here and that this would be a good place for you to travel through. I have not come here on Lucifer’s behalf, but because I have some things I must discuss with you.”
CHAPTER 8
Kobal
“Show your true self then,” I commanded. “If what you say is true, then there will be no deceptions between us.”
The raven chuckled and ruffled its feathers. Within those feathers, streaks of rainbow color came to life in the glow of the fire. “Yet you stand with the demon of illusions.”
“There are no illusions here,” Magnus said and spread his hands before him. “You would see them if there were.”
With a ripple of movement and a shifting of the air, the raven vanished from view. In its place stood the fallen angel I knew as Caim. I hadn’t known about his ability to shapeshift though. I didn’t trust him, but I understood it had been a small olive branch on his part to reveal this to us.
Spreading his six-foot wings out at his sides, Caim displayed more of the differences between him and most of his fallen brethren. After shearing their wings off on Earth, most of the fallen angels had regrown bat-like wings with thick veins running through them. Caim’s wings were covered in black feathers. Those feathers glistened with the same rainbow colors the raven possessed. A nearly foot-long silver spike came out of the tip of each wing, and another protruded from the bottom of them.
He settled his wings against his back, tucking them away until all that could be seen of them were the two silver spikes over his shoulders.
“Caim,” River said again.
The angel’s eyes shifted to her. Like the rest of the fallen angels, his eyes were now black instead of the violet of the angels, but different colors reflected in his eyes. “Yes, my niece,” he murmured. “That is my name.”
River’s eyes narrowed. “Lucifer is not my father; you arenotmy uncle.”
