“Meet the Destroyer,” Lucas introduces.
“Destroyer?” I whisper, awed. I have met too many supernatural beings in my life to be cowed, but impressed . . . oh, I am most certainly impressed.
Lucas pats the beast on the shoulder. “Or Desi for short.”
The lion glares. “You go too far, angel.”
“Don’t be fooled,” Lucas tells me, ignoring the creature. “He likes it.”
“What . . . how . . .” Inhaling, I try again. “Where did he come from?” My gaze flies to the lion. “You, I mean. Where did you come from?”
Lucas answers for him, a secret smile on his lips. “A very powerful gargoyle friend of mine out of France. He has a thing for collecting ancient weapons.”
“Weapon? That does not look like a weapon!” The lion growls, and I step back. “No offense or anything. I just . . .” I shake my head. “I think I’m going to shut up now.”
“Into the mace, Desi,” Lucas snaps, startling me.
Grumbling, the lion stretches out in the snow, folds his wings over himself, and then vanishes. Poof. Gone. In his place is an intricately carved wooden club, the end of it covered in bronze thorns.
Time out.
“Did,” I gesture at the club, “that lion just turn into a baseball bat on steroids?”
The mountains echo when Lucas laughs.
Setting our drinks in the snow, Lucas swipes the steroid-bat off the ground and offers it to me. “It’s a mace, a much more popular weapon a long time ago. It’s yours, for now.”
I stare at it. “Not that I don’t appreciate this, but I wasn’t expecting to wake up this morning to hot cocoa and a new pet, er, mace.”
“He’ll be an invaluable ally for you.”
Tucking my camera into the bag on my shoulder, I let Lucas place the weapon in my hands. It’s surprisingly light considering it was just a massive, flying male lion.
“I don’t like the way you’re giving this to me,” I say quietly. “This gift comes with too many unsaid things.”
Reaching out, he tucks a strand of hair behind my ear before pulling my knit cap down over it. “You are stronger than you know, Harper. You don’t get ruffled easily. You take pain better than most mortals I’ve met. You’ve been locked away from your abilities out of fear, and when that fear is gone, you’re going to discover a whole new woman locked inside of you, too. It takes an awful lot of power to keep a Seraph out of your head. Until then,” he winks, “Desi here will be a friend. He’s a sentient weapon, which means you can fight with him, use him for information, or even let him fight for you when you can’t. I’d teach you how to use a sword or some other form of defense, but we’re running out of time.”
“What about you?” I ask, my hands gripping the weapon. “Couldn’t you use the mace?”
Lucas ducks his head. “Seraphs are nearly invincible. I say nearly because we do have weaknesses. Not many, but we do. If Leviathan is threatening me, he’s got something he knows will harm me.” At my look of alarm, he tips my chin up. “I’ll destroy him no matter what happens to me. This has been a long time coming. This has nothing to do with your town or you. It’s not your fault.”
I’m not worried about the demon’s destruction; I’m worried about Lucas. He may have charged into my life too quickly, like a flame sparking, but now that he’s here, I want to know more about him. I want to know more about what and who he is. I want time. My abilities have always left me with little time. Scrawl a message to a guy in town. He dies. Scrawl a message threatening an angel, and my life becomes a fast-paced action novel. In audio.
I hug the weapon to myself. “What did you do to the archdemon?”
Lucas glances at the valley beyond. “When the world was ancient, Leviathan was considered a god. He was worshipped as one. His need for power, his greed, and his cruelty grew. His possessed followers were sacrificing humans for him, specifically young virgins. In his bid for supremacy, he nearly wiped out whole cities of mortals. Archdemons are a pain in the ass. For even their own kind.” His gaze returns to mine. “This was the time of the gods, of the Greeks, of the Romans, and of great power. Before I fell, I was commanded to take down Leviathan before he caused more destruction. The battle wasn’t an easy one. It took me and a legion of warriors to take down Levi and his minions.” His eyes go distant. “A dragon of the heavens against a dragon of the seas and the land. In the end, I managed to lock him away in the Infernum, a dark place for very powerful and dangerous supernaturals who are hard to kill.”
I stare, awed. “You felled a god.”
“I felled an archdemon who wanted to be a god, and now he wants retribution.”
If the morning was cold before, it’s frigid now.
I should say things like, “No, you can’t fight him!” Or at least beg him to leave Havenwood Falls, but I don’t.
In retrospect, sex kind of foiled things because now I feel something for him and that complicates everything.
I also keep my mouth shut because he’s right. This is his battle with an old enemy, and I am simply the tool to make it happen.
“What can I do to help?” I ask. “You know, other than bleed everywhere?”
Respect fills his gaze. “Find a way past your fears. There is unimaginable power in you. I sense it.”
The mace in my hand shudders, and I nearly drop it, a shriek escaping me.
“Desi senses it, too,” Lucas adds, chuckling. “Now for a suggestion. Your bed was much, much warmer than this mountain. If you catch my meaning.”
I throw him a look. “Do you even feel the cold?”
“No, but admit it.” He leans close. “Bed has a nice poetic feel to it. Besides, it’s Thanksgiving.”
His words paralyze me. “What did you say?” Oh, God! My aunt! With everything going on, the date completely slipped my mind. “We need to go!” I wave the mace. “Make us do the whole blink in and blink out thing.”
Lucas watches, amused. “I don’t really do the holidays.”
“Why?” I ask, aghast. “What’s not to like? Food, fam—”
Family. My thoughts cut me off. Do Seraphs even have families?
“Harper,” Lucas warns, grabbing for me.
I feel the gush before I see the blood pouring out of my face.
Ripping off his button-up shirt, Lucas stuffs it beneath my nose. I clutch at the material, and the mace falls to the blood-speckled snow at our feet.
“I’m sorry,” I say to Desi, my voice nasal because of the shirt.
Resting a large hand on the back of my head, Lucas presses me against him. “Don’t worry about the mace. He’s been ordered to stay with you. Trust me, he finds his own way.”
Blood soaks the shirt, and I sag against Lucas. “How has this not killed me?”
“You’re weak because Levi is drawing on your energy. You’re not dead because it’s not your blood.”
It takes a moment for his words to sink in, but when they do, I recoil, pure horror crashing down on me. “What?” I panic into the shirt, because who wouldn’t? “What do you mean it’s not my blood?”