Michael’s eyebrows raised a fraction with each word that came out of Remy’s mouth. He glanced at Lily, and she smiled sympathetically. It was about to get so much worse. Learning about angels was one thing. Learning what souls could do to relatively normal people was another story. Getting told he wasn’t really human was going to be the icing on the cake, but she was going to leave that part for later.
Remy explained swiftly and with such an earnestness that the biggest cynic had to believe him. He described how the Fallen had learned they could persuade the souls into human bodies, and the devastating consequences of such an act. By doing this, the Fallen had made two strikes with one blow. Not only did they damage the soul that had recently passed, but they also destroyed the soul and the body of the one possessed.
“Everything changed then,” she said quietly. “It was no longer an issue of their disobedience or bedroom activities. Who cared if they were producing children? They were destroying innocent souls, and when they realized their children could also sense these souls, they saw their revenge against God.”
Michael let out a low whistle. “You guys realize how crazy this sounds, right?”
She laughed. It was about to sound even crazier. “The Fallen are very angry with God and extremely jealous of humans. It’s a nasty mix of raw emotions.”
“Okay,” he said slowly. “You’re telling me there are evil angels running around and half-breed children? Why should I care? Why should you?”
Lily wondered if he was slow. Why couldn’t he put two and two together and make this easy for her? “Because I’m Nephilim and so are Luke and Remy.”
His lips parted as if he wanted to laugh. “If you’re Nephilim, aren’t you just as bad as those angels?”
She was about to answer, but fortunately spied what Luke carried into the room. She jumped from her seat, racing over to him. “Thank you. I owe you, Luke. I really do.” She grabbed one of the frosted glasses.
Luke rolled his eyes, handing the other one to Remy. “So how is the cop handling everything?”
Clutching the glass in her hands, she sank into the chair. She glanced up. Michael was watching her. “Want some?”
He blinked. “No. No thanks.”
She grinned. “We were just about to tell Michael the difference between us and the Fallen.”
Luke propped himself against the wall. “Well, that’s easy. They’re basically out to destroy humanity. We’re here to stop them. It’s plain and simple. We kill the Fallen and those who work with them—no questions asked.”
Sucking on her straw, she glared at Luke. Yeah, that didn’t help. She took a huge gulp of the cold, thick liquid and swallowed. “There are good and bad Nephilim. Obviously”—she tipped the glass to her chest—“we’re good. All of us at the Sanctuary—and there are many of us—are good. We operate like a checks-and-balances system.”
Michael leaned back, running his hands down his face as he stared at her. The expression he wore told her that he was bordering on running again, and she couldn’t afford that. Not with Luke here. He would do far worse than pin him down. She glanced at her nearly empty glass with a frown. She should have asked for two.
“Since we can feel the souls that are vulnerable, we should get to them first. There are some of our kind that deal only with finding those souls and helping them cross over. The people who can talk to the dead?” She paused, letting that part sink in. “They are Nephilim, and their job is to help those souls, but we aren’t always fast enough.”
Michael nodded like he understood. “What happens if you don’t?”
“It’s what happened to the poor man in the alley. Once a soul enters a human, it’s too late. The soul is corrupted and becomes evil. We call them deadheads. I know—not very creative or classy, but that’s what we know them as. When it happens, the human has to be killed.”
He gave a short laugh, closing his eyes. “This has been one hell of a night. So you guys run around killing people that you believe are possessed by evil souls?”
“It’s not what we believe,” Remy corrected. “It’s what we know. We can sense the souls before they enter a body—and once they do. It feels like death: cold and final. You know it when it happens. There’s no mistaking it.”
Michael turned back to Lily. “So you killed that man because he had a bad soul in him? Why didn’t you just…exorcise the soul?”
Luke laughed. “This isn’t television, buddy. You can’t remove a soul once it gets into a body. Like she said, the soul turns evil the moment it climbs down the throat of the unlucky sap who happened to be within distance of it. You should know what would’ve happened if it climbed down yours.”
There was a good chance she would throw her glass at Luke’s head. With willpower she didn’t realize she had, she put the glass on the floor and folded her hands. “Look at it this way, Michael. The soul infects the host. Just like a cold or a virus does, but this kind of infection is permanent. They no longer remember who they are. They don’t care about pesky things like morals or compassion. They turn into killing machines, and it becomes our job to take care of them. We have been trained to…dispose of them.”
Michael shook his head. “You guys are freaking insane.”
So much for hoping he would sop up information like a wet sponge and then ask where he could sign up for the job. She knew it was well past midnight, and she had no idea how long Michael had been on his shift before she’d run into him. She figured he only had a few more hours in him before he shut down, and whether he liked it or not, she planned to use them.
“I just have a couple more things to tell you. Then we have something we want to show you.” She ignored the sense of confusion Remy and Luke shot her way. “It’s really important you know what is out there. There are people like us who are bad. They were Nephilim once, but the Fallen corrupted them. What they’ve become now is what we call a minion. Yep, once again, we suck at names, but there is a legion of them.”
Michael started to stand, but he sat back down. A sort of lopsided smile formed, but his face paled several shades. “I was hoping I had misheard you earlier when you said minion.”
“Sorry, but you didn’t. The minions are constantly out there searching for souls and…for Nephilim like us.”
“They want to kill us,” Luke added nonchalantly. “And so do the Fallen.”
Michael’s weary gaze shifted to Luke. “I don’t see how that is my problem.”
“Well…” Lily began with a tight smile. “It kind of is your problem. Remember how I warned you that every minion and Fallen would be out looking for you?” He nodded. “Well, once the soul enters a human body, whatever it sees or feels is communicated back to the minion that persuaded it and then back to the Fallen that corrupted it. It’s kind of like a fucked-up instant-messaging system.”
Michael’s brows slanted together. “So?”
She took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. “The Fallen and the Nephilim can sense one another. So can the souls. It’s an internal warning system. Kind of comes in handy, too, but that’s beside the point.”
“Just spit it out, Lily,” Luke grumbled from his corner.
She glared at him. “It’s because you’re like us, Michael. Your father was one of the Fallen, and that makes you one of us.”
“Bullshit,” he whispered.
“And since the soul knew what you are, that means the minion does, too…and the Fallen as well. They know you’re untrained, virtually helpless to them. They’ll come for you. First, they’re going to try to coerce you to join them.”
“Go all dark side and all.” Remy grinned.
“And if you don’t?” she continued. “They will kill you.”
Michael handled that little part surprisingly well. He stared at them and then laughed so hard she thought he’d hurt himself.
“We’re not joking,” she said, meeting and holding his gaze. “At all.”
He started to stand but didn’t make it very far. “This…this is crazy.”
He pretty much didn’t say a lot of anything after that. He was already shutting down, and there was so much he didn’t know about. She still hadn’t even touched on the fact that the Fallen were behind half of the dirty politicians in this city.
She stood and stretched. They had a couple of hours before the sun rose and the minions crawled back into whatever dank, dark place they could find. Well, they probably lived in some sweet penthouses, but whatever. “I
