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“I know.” Daniel gripped his knees to keep from touching his hair again.
“Then why keep it? Let it grow out some, then just trim up the sides. You’d look good with a little more up top. That current style… makes you look…” Her head tipped as she searched for an adjective. “Stark. It ain’t pretty.”
“I don’t have a choice in the matter.”
She peered at him, opened her mouth to say something, but the door’s chimes cut her off. They both turned to see Ari and Jay, along with two more men who could easily pass for Jay’s brothers. Ari seemed short when standing beside them.
“Theo should arrive momentarily,” the shorter of the two new men said, crossing to Daniel. “My name’s Simon MacCabe, but everybody calls me Sy. This is my brother, El, short for Eleazar.”
Daniel stood and shook their outstretched hands, his gaze darting to Jay. “Are you all related?”
Sy nodded. “Judah is our brother.”
“Ah. You all look very similar.” He’d read the story of Judah and Maccabees to his niece, thus he had a suspicion. “Can I ask another question?”
“Sure.”
“You said your name is MacCabe, but aren’t you really the Maccabee brothers? The ones who overthrew King Antiochus and rededicated the great Temple in Jerusalem?”
Sy stepped back, his face registering shock. “I wasn’t aware… How did you…?”
“You’ve rendered him speechless,” Jay chuckled, slapping Sy on the upper back. “Good job.”
“He knows,” Sy spluttered.
“Good, then we don’t have to explain the whole angels/demons thing.” Jay focused on Daniel. “I’m surprised Theo told you already, though. He must really be in love with you.”
“Love?” Daniel laughed. “He doesn’t love me. I don’t even think you could call us friends even though I’ve known about him since you took down March last year. I saw him make the killing blow and followed him to Haven. For most of the last year, I’ve been stalking the club, hoping he’d show up so I could talk him into helping me get out from under Troy’s thumb. I figured if he could destroy that demon, he could easily dispatch a human mob boss.” Daniel dropped into the chair and looked up at the Maccabee brothers. “Of course, I didn’t even stop to think that Troy could be a demon, too. I’m such an idiot.”
“You are not!” Theo said, storming out of the back room. “His mask is impeccable. Even Judah and his team on the police force weren’t aware until recently. He said so himself.”
They all stared at Jay, who flushed and ducked his head. “It’s true, and now I’m going to blatantly change the subject to why we asked you to come here first.”
Theo sat beside Daniel and held his hand while Mary locked the front door and turned off the OPEN sign. The others settled into chairs, creating a loose circle. Daniel glanced at his phone. “I have about twenty minutes before I have to leave, so you should start talking.”
Jay rubbed his hands together. “I’m going with you tonight.”
Daniel narrowed his eyes at him. “Why? Won’t that put a target on your back?”
“We,” —Jay swung a hand at Sy and El— “don’t think so. I’m just a friend of Theo’s. Since I’m human now, Troian shouldn’t be able to detect the divine spark within me.”
“So you’re saying Theo could be in trouble?”
“I don’t know, but it wouldn’t hurt to have another set of eyes on Troian, right?”
Daniel kept silent as he thought about putting another person in the demon’s path. “It’s not safe.”
“I know, but I also have years of combat training, both as a human and as an angel. Sy and El will monitor the situation remotely. Show him, Sy.”
Sy held out a hand, open and flat, showing Daniel the tiny devices on his palm. “Some of these are listening devices, others are cameras. Theo said Troian’s guards don’t do more than a wand search for weapons. These won’t register.”
“He might have jamming hardware,” Daniel countered. Truly, he didn’t know what kind of security the underground fight club had. He just showed up, collected the money, and at the end of the night, put the money in Mr. Troy’s safe.
“He might.” Sy wobbled his head, side to side. “We have the tech to bypass it.”
“Really?”
Sy pointed at the ceiling. “We have help.” Daniel looked up in confusion until Sy expanded. “Divine help. I feel comfortable telling you that since you know about us, but you know you can’t say anything, right?”
