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It took only a minute or so before the man dropped his hands to his sides, panting with his chin against his chest, a mirror image of Zaqiel before him. But where Zaqiel’s skin had taken on a white glow, the stranger’s was yellowed.
When he looked at me, his eyes were definitely yellow with thin black slits for irises. I felt like I should be afraid of him, but I wasn’t. The darkness that had been around him when he approached seemed lost now, and he looked weak and vulnerable as he watched me watch him.
I jumped when I heard a moan from Zaqiel and clasped my hand to my mouth as I watched his skin heal. The ash blew away, and beneath was still the burned skin, but the burns seemed to be absorbed with the white glow withdrawing back into him, until the man kneeling before me was the man I knew.
“Zaqiel!” I cried, moving to his side again and taking his cheek in my hand.
“Cade,” he whispered.
“Cade?”
I turned to the man kneeled beside me, and he nodded against his chest, raising one hand weakly. “Guilty as charged,” he mumbled.
“Cade,” I repeated and waited until he rolled his head to the side to look at me out of the corner of his eye. “You saved him. Thank you.”
ZAQIEL
Hearing them, Evie’s screams as she sat next to me only added to the agony of the burning. Angels feel pain, but the burning was pain from another world. There are only a handful of ways to kill an angel, and unfortunately, the most accessible was also the most painful. There weren’t exactly angel blades lying around to be collected by just anyone.
But holy oil, if you knew what it could do, people would get their hands on it.
Who would want to kill an angel?
I had made many misjudgments of people while on Earth, but Lee, he threw me completely. I’d never have picked him for the sort to go away and spend weeks figuring out how to kill me, then go through all of that, frightening all those people simply to get to me.
It made me feel a menace and reminded me of all the things Evie went through that she wouldn’t have if I weren’t here.
But then again, I had saved her, much as she had saved me.
I felt her kiss on my lips when I was dying, and all I could think was if that was the last sensation I felt on this Earth, then I’m glad it was the most beautiful thing known.
Evie.
But her pain, I felt that to my core. I wanted to reassure her, but it would be a lie.
Because the truth was, Iwasdying.
Covered in burns I couldn’t heal from and stripped my life essence away, I had no way to recover from that.
Then he showed up.
Of all the beings to save my life, Cade, a demon who owed me a favor.
He gave me his healing powers, part of his life force. The exertion would’ve greatly weakened him, and he gave me only enough for my healing powers to kick in. Any more, and it would’ve killed him.
I hadn’t done what I did for Cade so he’d owe me. I hadn’t even known who he was, but in one act, I cemented a bond with him that he was insistent he would pay back one day. And I guess today was that day.
Thank God.
Her chin still resting on my chest, Evie hung off my shoulder, gripping me so tight it was as if she didn’t want to let me go, which was fine with me. I reached forward and lightly slapped Cade on the knee.
“How did you know?” I mumbled.
“Hey.” I could hear the smile in his voice, even though in his weakened state, it couldn’t be much more than a lift of the corner of his mouth. “You know me. Cops around, I’m not far away.” His tone changed as his face dropped. “I smelled the burning holy oil, and I came running, but I didn’t know it was you.”
His hand lifted, and for a moment, I thought he was going to take my hand, but that would be out of character for Cade and for almost every demon I knew. Instead, he returned the light slap on the leg I had given him. “Got here just in time,” he muttered.
It took a great deal of effort, but I lifted my head, finding that he was already looking at me, his eyes a vivid yellow as he had needed to engage his inner demon to save my life.
