The Angel of Death (The Soul Summoner Book 3) (37 page)

Warren’s mouth was gaping at the table, and he was clapping his hands.

Nathan cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled, “Woohoo!”

Laughing, Azrael bent, pulled out three waters and carried them over to me. “Nicely done, Ms. Jordan. Nicely done.”

“Thank you,” I said, bowing before my teacher.

We unscrewed the caps and passed the waters out to the dumbfounded FBI agents. I saved Sharvell for last. “Here,” I said, handing it to her.

“Thank you.”

When she reached up and grabbed it, I held on. “I’m not who you think I am.”

She stared at me, indignant but maybe mildly impressed.

Warren was still grinning from ear to ear when I walked back around to my place at the table and sat down. “When in the hell did you learn how to do that?”

“Baby, lots has changed since you’ve been gone,” I said, smiling.

He leaned over and gave me a quick peck on the lips. “That’s clear.” He pushed his plate away and looked up at his father. “I’m assuming you’ve got an armory around here somewhere. I’m a little low on ammo.”

Kane chuckled. “Yeah, we have an armory.”

Nathan turned toward Azrael. “Speaking of weapons, I can’t tell demons apart. I won’t know who I can kill and who I can’t.”

Enzo looked at him. “Shoot all of them in the head, and if they get back up, blow out their kneecaps.”

Nathan nodded. “I can do that.”

I glanced sideways at our FBI friends. A couple of them were whispering with each other, but Sharvell’s hateful gaze was fixed on me. I smiled and gave her a tiny wave with my finger.

Warren pointed at me. “What about Sloan? What’s her role in all this?”

Azrael looked at me. “Sloan will be on the ground with me tonight.”

Warren’s eyes widened. “In the middle of everything?”

“Correct.”

“Absolutely not,” Warren said.

Azrael turned his palms up. “Warren, you don’t have a choice. We’re the offensive team here. I brought them out here so Sloan can kill them.”

“So
Sloan
can kill them?” Warren asked, pointing at me in case anyone was confused by who Sloan was, apparently.

“She’s the only one who can,” Azrael said.

Warren’s tone was laden with sarcasm. “Her little mind movement trick is really
neat
and all, but do you really think I’m going to allow the mother of my child to be—”

As if of their own accord, my hands began flailing wildly in the air. “
Allow
me?”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nathan’s hand clamp over his mouth. Muffled chuckles were coming from Azrael and his crew.

Warren shifted in my direction, glaring as he waited for my outburst.

I lifted my eyebrows and blinked. “Allow me?” I asked again.

Nathan’s head was hung, and his shoulders were shaking with silent giggles.
 

Warren crossed his thick arms. “You can’t expect me to be all right with the thought of my pregnant girlfriend battling a bunch of demons out in the middle the woods.”

I scowled. “I don’t expect you to be
happy
about it, but just because I’m pregnant doesn’t mean you get to make decisions for me.”

Azrael walked around the table and leaned between us. “OK, kids. Calm down.” He draped his arm around Warren’s shoulders. “I understand your hesitation about this. I really do. But she’s more capable of ending this, once and for all, than any of us. I’ll keep her safe, but I need her with me.”

Warren looked at him. “Then you’ll have me with you too.”

Azrael tapped his finger on the table. “You’re the best long-range shooter we’ve got. You can protect her better from somewhere else.”

“He’s right, Warren,” Nathan said. “You’re far better than anyone I’ve ever seen with a rifle.”

It was obvious Warren didn’t completely trust his father, which was understandable given how much of a whack-job my demon mother turned out to be and given Azrael’s track record for keeping his own counsel. After a long moment of obvious internal debate, he looked at Nathan with a pained expression.

Nathan must have understood because he nodded. “I won’t leave her.”

Azrael glanced around our group. “It’s settled then?”

Warren gave a thumbs-up, but he didn’t look happy about it.

“She’ll be safe in my charge,” Azrael said.

I raised my hands again. “I don’t take orders from you either, Oh-Archangel-of-Death.”

Warren looked at Azrael. “She’s always this difficult, so get used to it.”

Azrael slapped him on the back. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

“I’ll tell you something you don’t know.” Enzo’s voice caught us all by surprise as he pushed his way into the center of our group with his finger pushed against the speaker in his ear. “We’ve got heavy movement coming in the back east quadrant.”

Azrael shoved his earpiece into his ear, and after a second looked around at all of us. “Our guests are early.”

27.

“All right, boys. Let’s go to work!” Azrael announced. “Enzo and Kane, you’ve got the HOKs. I want you to take Sloan, Warren, Nate, and our FBI friends to the clearing. Haul as much shit as you can. Reuel and I will take care of the rest.”

“Roger that,” Enzo said.

Azrael looked at Lex. “Lex, hook Warren up with the ghillie suit you found last night.”

“Sweet,” Warren said, getting up and then following Lex across the camp.

Azrael pointed at Nathan. “You’ve got my M-4, right?”

Nathan nodded. “Do you need it back?”

Azrael shook his head. “Nope. Keep it. You got mags?”

“Yes, sir.”

I held up both my hands. “What do you want me to do?”

Azrael smiled. “Don’t get killed.”

“Not encouraging,” I said, shaking my head furiously.

“Just kidding.” He held up his hand. “Enzo! You’ve got two minutes to fit Sloan with some body armor!”

“Roger that, sir!”

Azrael pointed at me, then pointed at Enzo, whose head was sticking out of Azrael’s camper. I jumped up from the table and scurried across the grounds. Enzo offered me a hand and pulled me up into the RV so sharply that I missed the top step.

The inside of Azrael’s camper was worse than ours. His bunks didn’t even have a mattress. It smelled like mold and there were rat droppings on the floor. “Ew,” I said, looking around.

With a loaded smile, Enzo reached into the closet. I heard a switch followed by the unmistakable sound of hydraulics. The bottom bunk slowly lifted a few inches into the air, and Enzo swung it sideways on a hinge back against the wall. My bottom jaw dropped. “What the hell?”

There was a staircase underneath and halogen lights flickered on.

Enzo started down the stairs. “We’re down to seventy-eight seconds, ma’am. Please hurry.”

I followed him down into the underground bunker. “Shut up!” My voice echoed off the walls.
 

There were rows of barracks-style bunk beds, lockers along the walls, a large lunchroom table with bench seats, and even a door marked as a bathroom. At the far end, Enzo unlocked a large steel cage. “We’re down to a minute, Ms. Jordan.”

I shook my head to clear it. “Sorry.” I scurried into the cage where he helped me put on the smallest vest they had. The bulky, camouflage Kevlar hung off my chest, even after he’d tightened it to the end of the Velcro strap. “I feel like a turtle,” I told him, unable to lay my arms down flat against my sides.

“I’m sorry we don’t have anything that fits better. I don’t think we’ve ever even had a woman here before besides NAG and she took all her gear with her,” he said.
 

I shook my head. “It’s OK. I’m more pissed off I’ve been sleeping in that tin stable out there while you guys have been living it up down here in the Taj Mahal of hidey-holes .”

“The boss doesn’t let us open it if he’s not here. And last night, you and Staff Sergeant Parish crashed out early before we had a chance to move your stuff.”

“I think Az just wanted me to suffer,” I said.

“I doubt that, ma’am,” he replied. “I’ll see you on the HOK.”

Just then, Cooper and Warren jogged down the stairs. Warren’s reaction had to have been similar to my own, but he got over it a lot quicker than I did. “Don’t you look hot?” he asked, grabbing me by the collar of my vest and kissing me before brushing past me into the cage.

“Have you ever seen anything like this place?” I asked.

He nodded as Cooper handed him a box full of ammunition. “Yes.”

I rolled my eyes. “Of course you have. I need to grab a few things from the camper. I’ll see you up top.”

Warren didn’t reply. He was distracted by all the big guns.

Less than ten minutes later, I was in the back seat of Enzo’s HOK with Warren. Agent Silvers was stuffed into the passenger’s seat up front, and Nathan was riding with Agent Voss in the very back. All our laps were loaded down with everything from grenades to gauze. My vest rode up over my chin the second I sat down, making it hard for me to talk as the group discussed the danger zone we were entering.

I had nothing helpful to add, anyway. Regardless of what everyone thought they knew, no one really had any idea what was coming our way. And we had no idea if we would win—or even survive. The battle in Texas with Kasyade hadn’t gone well, and this one promised to make that look like a cat fight. I pressed my eyes closed and talked to the only person who could hear me behind my oversized armor.
 

Dear God, we need help.

* * *

It was a quick ride to the mountain spring in the middle of the plot of land. Enzo parked the HOK in the middle of the worn grassy path. “We’ll unload here, then I’m stashing this thing in the woods.”

We all got out, and I took in our surroundings. Up ahead was a rocky and shallow creek. The path opened up to an unleveled clearing with tall grass and thick leaves left to decay during the winter. Beyond the grass, a large rock jutted out from the earth forming a long crack in the mountainside, and toward the top, a small stream of water trickled out onto the rocks below. Near the bottom, a larger swell of the waterfall splashed into a rocky pool. And between the two spouts was an open, jagged space in the rock formation.

I pointed to it. “If that’s the cave, which I’m sure it is, I’m putting everyone on notice, there’s no way in hell I’m going in there.”

“What are you mortals waiting for?” Azrael shouted down from the top of the rock.

I looked at Warren. “I thought he was behind us?”

“So did I,” he said.

Warren draped the M-4’s strap around his neck and reached for my hand. “Let’s go.”

It was at least thirty yards straight up the side of that
hill.
Warren looked back over his shoulder. “Hey, Nate. What does this remind you of?”

Behind us, Nathan began mimicking my voice. “I’m tired. My legs hurt. This is too steep. I want to go to the car.”

If I had something I could throw at him, I would have.

Warren was chuckling. A good sign, considering he’d almost killed Nathan hours before.

Azrael was waving us forward when we reached the top of the falls. “Bring it in,” he said. “We’ve got lots to cover in a short timeframe.”

We all gathered around him, including the FBI.
 

“We already have eyes on at least six targets, three humans and three angels, including Abaddon. Reuel is en route to the border, to Abaddon’s last known position. Do
not
engage with him. He’s known as The Destroyer for a reason.”

I shuddered. That didn’t sound good.

“Any questions?” he asked.

“What about us?” Agent Voss asked, holding up his hands that were still bound at the wrists.

“Kane and Enzo will escort you to the cave.” He lowered his glasses and glared at him. “I suggest you stay in it.” Azrael looked around our group and used both hands to motion all the way around us. “These woods are rigged to kill people. If you don’t want to die a painful and fiery death, don’t cross the tree line.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, a deafening blast shattered the silence of the woods. A black billow of smoke rose above the trees against the gray winter sky. A blood-curdling scream echoed through the forest, accompanied by the sound of startled woodland creatures scuttling through the fallen leaves. The screams sickened me as much as they brought me hope. Then, as if silenced by a cosmic mute button, the shrieks abruptly ceased, and the land was silent again. A chill ran down my spine, and I shuddered under Warren’s arm.

“One down.” Azrael’s voice was even and sinister. “Get to your positions.”

Warren grasped my arm and turned me around to face him. “Are you armed?”

I shook my head. “I should keep my hands free. Besides, there’s no point. You know I can’t shoot.”

He pulled me close and pressed his lips to mine. “I love you, Sloan.”

“I love you too.”

He tucked my hair behind my ear. “Stay with Nate and don’t do anything stupid.”

I kissed him again.

“Ready?” Nathan asked, stepping to my side.

Warren grabbed him by the front of his vest. “Don’t you leave her.”

“You know I won’t.” Nathan stepped back and offered Warren his hand.
 

Warren looked at it before accepting. “Thank you,” he said.

Nathan nodded. “Stay safe.”

They stared at each other a moment, some sort of unsaid sentiment passing between them.

“Warren, get in position,” Azrael ordered.

Warren turned to look at him. He pointed his finger at his father’s face. “You’d better not let anything happen to her.”

“You have my word, son,” Azrael replied.

After a bit of heated staring, Warren nodded. He looked at me one last time before turning and jogging toward the trees.

“We’ve got to go,” Azrael said, taking me by the arm.

Going down the mountain wasn’t much easier than going up. Azrael had to hold me vertical to keep me from sliding down on my backside. I watched the three agents duck into the cave, then Enzo and Kane scaled off the falls to meet us at the bottom.

Back to back, Azrael, Nathan, and I formed a triangle, looking out toward the trees. Enzo and Kane were in opposite corners of the clearing.