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Yesterday glowered at the hounds. “Why did they finish it? They should be eating souls, not pizza.”
“I’m not giving you any pizza.” Eddie wanted to lie down on the floor and catch up on the sleep she’d missed last night. Would Dee never get here? Dee would sort all of this out. Eddie had so much riding on Dee doing just that. So much.
“Eddie?” Sophia stood in the doorway looking ridiculously beautiful with early morning light creating a halo around her pale hair. Or maybe that was a real halo. Eddie was getting the nasty sense that angels as she understood them had no interest in fitting in with her image of them. The Sophia/Uriel sending Shade sailing across the greenroom yesterday had as much in common with her image of an angel as a wolf with a Chihuahua.
Eddie had trouble facing her, so she grabbed a stack of prop books and sorted them.
Stepping into the room, Sophia said, “Asmodeus says he spoke to you yesterday.”
Speaking of Yesterday, the little yellow fucker had disappeared again.
“Asmodeus and I have been speaking.” Sophia picked up teapot and examined it. “He says you are having trouble with what you are.”
Hang on now! Nothing had been decided, despite what Shade and Sophia said. She was human. “I’m not a Nephilim.”
“Um…Eddie.” Sophia gave her big, blue sad eyes. “We have discussed all the alternatives and that is the only one that makes sense.”
Made sense to who exactly? “What is a Nephilim?” And then she couldn’t resist adding. “And don’t forget to mention the part about why they should be exterminated.”
“Did Shade say that?”
He most certainly had, and Eddie nodded. It wasn’t the sort of thing you forgot, especially not in conjunction with them saying you might be one those things that were exterminated.
“Nephilim are not supposed to exist.” Sophia leaned down and examined an antique radio. “Congress between humans and hell princes is forbidden.”
“And?” Eddie didn’t like the direction this conversation was taking.
“And Nephilim are the product of a…er…relationship between what you humans call a fallen angel and a human.” Sophia fiddled with the knobs on the old radio, looking everywhere but at Eddie.
“You mean my mother got freaky with a hell prince, and I’m the result?” Eddie didn’t need any more bullshit in her life right now.
Sophia nodded and cleared her throat. “It is the only explanation that makes sense.”
“Except for the teeny-tiny fact that if my mother had fucked a hell prince, don’t you think I’d know?” Eddie wanted to slap Sophia’s hands away from the props.
Straightening, Sophia met her gaze. “Are you sure you would know?”
Eddie would give everything she didn’t own to be able to stare Sophia down and tell her that was ridiculous. Except Rosabella had always been unpredictable and had never bothered to explain herself. She’d left her daughter to be raised by Dee without a backward glance. Instead of opening that old wound, Eddie scoffed. “Yes.”
“But the truth is, Eddie, that you cannot possibly be all human.” Sophia looked so understanding, but it made Eddie want to rage against her. “A bite that kills humans within hours is currently healing on your arm. Not even archangels are totally impervious to a hell prince, and yet you resist Asmodeus.”
The hounds stood. One of them flashed Sophia a fang as with a low menacing growl they both flanked Eddie.
Sophia gave them a meaningful look. “And then there is that.”
Eddie patted their huge heads. Much as she was getting fond of the guys, they were not exactly helping the cause right now. “So why are Nephilim exterminated?”
“Eh?” Sophia made a face and parked her perky ass on a sea chest. “The official answer is that Nephilim are unpredictable.”
Not her. She was as predictable as they came. “I’m not—”
“In their power and how it manifests.” Sophia winced as if she hated shooting Eddie down. “A lot of it depends on the human and what dormant power they might possess.” Sophia frowned and tapped a forefinger to her chin. “In your case, your mother is of the guardian blood, so she must have some affinity to the hell gate.” She shrugged. “But we have no idea what you can do or how strong you are.” She seemed to think something over before nodding, and saying, “I’m not really supposed to tell you this, but in some cases, Nephilim are more powerful than hell princes and archangels.”
“Well, I can tell you right now, I can’t make people fall all over themselves trying to get into my pants.” Not that Eddie would want that power. Much. It might have come in useful once or twice when she’d fallen for someone who didn’t even know she existed. Eddie shook her head to clear her thoughts. What was she thinking? She was considering doing what she’d given Shade hell about.
“Shade is not your sire.” Sophia shrugged and picked up a duster.
A truly nasty thought wriggled into Eddie’s brain. “How can you be sure?”
