Chapter 53
Alex closed the meeting room door behind her and headed for the elevator. Aramael fell into step at her side as she passed the waiting area. She felt his gaze on her, but he remained quiet. Blessedly so, because she was in no way ready to share all that she had learned in that meeting. She still hadn’t processed it herself.
The elevator doors slid open at the touch of a button, and they stepped inside. She took her cell phone from its holster and dialed her voice mail. Four messages. One from Roberts, reminding her he expected a call; three from Jen the previous day. At each sound of her sister’s voice, Alex pressed the button to skip the message, swallowing her guilt at doing so. She just couldn’t deal with Jen on top of everything else right now.
Alex returned the cell phone to its case and closed her eyes, letting her head drop back against the wall.
Aramael’s voice broke into her attempt to stop thinking. “Are you going to tell me what happened?”
“Ask your Guardians.”
“I could, but it would save time if you told me yourself.”
She remained stubbornly silent. Aramael’s clothing rustled as he shifted position. The elevator continued its descent, bumping past another floor.
Lifting her head, she regarded him. “Why are we bothering with this?”
“Bothering with what?”
“Any of it. Tracking down the Nephilim, convincing Seth to take back his powers.”
Sudden interest gleamed in Aramael’s eyes. “You’ve decided to help with that?”
Trust him to zero in on that rather than the question. She scowled. “I’m serious, Aramael. What’s the point of any of it? Humanity has never been so far advanced and so far behind all at the same time. We’re consuming more than the Earth can produce. We’ve created enough weaponry to destroy ourselves several times over. We’re pushing the limits of our very existence—hell, the whole goddamn planet’s existence—past the point of no return, and we know it, but we’re too goddamn arrogant to care. What, in all of that, is worth saving?”
“Not all of you are like that.”
She snorted. “There are more than seven billion of us, Aramael. Expecting a handful to be able to sway the masses is like asking us to empty the Atlantic with a teaspoon.”
The number three over the elevator doors glowed red, then the two, then the letters
“Maybe this entire war is too late,” she said wearily. “Maybe Lucifer has already won.”
“You wouldn’t be doing what you do if you believed that.”
“Being a cop, you mean?” She snorted. “Most days that only makes me wonder more.”
The elevator doors slid open, and she stepped out, Aramael close behind.
Alex turned up the collar on her coat against the frigid wind and pulled gloves from her pockets as they emerged onto the street. At least the rain had stopped. Turning right, she headed toward Parliament Hill.
“The Nephilim children that have already been born are missing,” she said. She stopped at the intersection and gazed across the street at a majestic stone building rising from an expanse of lawn, flanked on either side by similar buildings, together forming the seat of the Canadian government.
Her companion’s stride faltered. “You’re sure?”
“Only the governments that will admit to having held them for study in the first place are confirming, but yes, we’re pretty sure. I’m assuming it’s not Heaven rounding them up.”
“You know we won’t interfere like that. It’s most likely Lucifer. He’ll want to control their upbringing.”
“Hard to say which would be the lesser of two evils,” she muttered. At Aramael’s raised eyebrow, she elaborated, “Between Lucifer controlling them or humans. The end result would be pretty much the same, I expect.”
“Then the children . . . ?”
“Were exhibiting unusual traits. Superhuman, violent ones. My fellow mortals wanted to control their abilities, with an eye to weaponizing them. Only because other governments were doing so as well, of course.” Sarcasm laced her words. “Self-defense, you know.”
The crossing signal changed, and she stepped off the sidewalk. “The entire globe is coming apart at the seams, and we’re still worried about one-upping one another. Right now, however, the question is where the hell is Lucifer taking them? There’s another eighty thousand on the way. Where’s he going to put them all?” She threaded through the oncoming pedestrians. Maybe Seth would come through with some information for her before he—well. Before.
Leading the way past the barriers, she entered the grounds of Parliament and skirted the crowd gathered on the wet grass. Atop the Peace Tower, the Westminster chimes tolled from the clock, marking the hour as 1:45. Fifteen minutes until speech time.
“Did you tell them about the other babies?” Aramael asked. “The eighty thousand?”
“Yes, though I’m not sure they believed me. They wanted to know where I got my information. I declined to tell them it was from Lucifer. They want me back for another meeting this afternoon, after they’ve tried to figure out whether I’m right. They also want to discuss what to do about you.”
“Me?”
“
Aramael caught her arm and drew her up short. “You told them about us?”
“They already knew. Did you really think they wouldn’t? They have DNA tying the babies to Caim’s claw, children being born who have powers no human has ever had, and six-thousand-year-old scrolls documenting precedence. The Nephilim have happened before, remember?” She jerked free and continued toward the sweep of driveway between Parliament and the lawn, the elevation of which would give her the best vantage point. “If it’s any consolation, however, they’re calling you extraterrestrial beings—angels not being real and all. I didn’t correct them.”
“Thank the One for small miracles,” Aramael muttered. “And what are we doing now?”
“The federal minister of health is giving a speech. They’ve decided the best public explanation for the pregnancies is still an unknown virus and that putting visible measures in place will reassure people. They’re announcing a Canada-wide prevention program today, including quarantine for pregnant women in their first trimester. I want to gauge public response.”
She held out her badge to the uniformed RCMP officer standing at a wooden barricade. He nodded and allowed her to pass, but held a hand out in front of Aramael. For a moment, temptation beckoned, then Alex sighed.
“He’s with me,” she told the other cop tersely, and without waiting to see whether or not he believed her and let Aramael through, she stomped up the driveway’s incline.
Chapter 54
“This is it.” Standing on the sidewalk, hands in his pockets, Qemuel nodded at the house on the other side of a manicured lawn. “The car’s in the driveway, so she’s home.”
Lucifer inhaled deeply and shook the remaining tension of dealing with Samael from his shoulders. He pushed his irritation with the Archangel to the back of his mind. He wanted to savor this moment: the final nail in humanity’s collective coffin, six thousand years in the making. His lips curved. How ironic that one of their own would be so instrumental to their demise.
“Well done, Qemuel. Thank you.”
“I’m done, then?”
Lucifer hesitated. He hadn’t thought about what he would do with the Naphil afterward. He couldn’t risk sending her to Pripyat with the Nephilim babies. She was too human, her bloodline too weak. There was no telling
