“You said females plural,” Wyatt reminded Mia.
“Yes, I think that Glenda Dupree is the strongest candidate, followed by her son Mike. Both are vain and have expressed their displeasure of aging to me,” Mia said.
“I agree that vanity is a strong reason but not the only reason for wishing to be twenty years younger. It has to do with choices. For example, I wish I had spoken up when I saw the disruption Lucifer’s actions were causing. If I could go back, I would.”
Mia thought about it. “Then they are all strong candidates, except for Murphy.”
“Have you taken him off the list?” Wyatt asked.
“I was drawing a line through his name but stopped myself.”
“Why?”
“Because I never asked him point blank if he wished it was twenty years ago or if he had a candle in his pocket. He was busy helping me come to terms with that this wasn’t a dream, and what was I going to do about it? His wish could have to do with planting trees or me. Who knows?” Mia said. “I know I’m making myself the focus of this, but I am the only one who seems to have memories up to twenty years in the future.”
“That you know of,” Wyatt reminded her.
“Argh!”
“How did you meet Orion?” Wyatt asked.
“He showed up to have Angelo’s back. Angelo Michaels is a birdman warrior who helped PEEPs out in the early years.”
“Your face clouded over when you said his name.”
“Remind me never to play poker with you,” Mia said, frustrated.
“Well?”
“Well what?”
“What’s the problem with Angelo?” Wyatt demanded.
“What does he have to do with this problem?” Mia fired back.
“Mia, we have to consider all variables. We’re dealing with something very dangerous. I don’t want to be surprised by a birdman’s talon slicing my throat.”
“Sorry, I just… K, Angelo. How much do I tell you? It all comes back to me, but you’re part of it too?” Mia thought a moment and decided to just go for it. “Wyatt, I’ve been genetically engineered by the Council of Women to become an assassin who is beautiful and desirable enough to attract Abigor and kill him.” Mia held up her hand before Wyatt could ask any questions. “Orion and my grandmother are my father’s parents. This is how I ended up with demon and birdman and angel genes. Orion’s mother is part birdwoman, part demon, and angel. On my mother’s side, we have angel. There are wings on the female side of the family.”
“Okay, but is this why you’re so prickly when you speak about Angelo?”
“Angelo presented himself to me as a fellow paranormal investigator, then a birdman when he saved my life. You see, all these powers and changes in my body that will happen aren’t natural. Because of this, my body sometimes times out. We were working on a haunt that involved ATzxes when an aneurism, caused by bilocation, burst in my head. He rescued me, and to be honest, there was a mild flirtation on my part but a rejection on his. Later, he bargained with my aunt to buy me so he could enslave me into the Brotherhood of the Wing.”
“Well damn, that wasn’t nice. I assume you forgave him.”
“For the good of all I did, and ever since, he’s insinuated himself into my life.”
“But you don’t trust him.”
“No, not really. I must work with him from time to time, but he irritates me. He’s all… nevermind.”
“There’s more.”
“Yes, the long game that the Council of Women played involved me being part of the Brotherhood of the Wing, being trained in combat by them. The torture they put me through in the first twenty-eight years of my life was supposed to embitter me to become a cold-hearted assassin.”
“They could be trying to have another go at torturing you,” Wyatt said, rubbing his jaw. “But I wouldn’t put it past my side either. Lucifer plays the best game of chess there is.”
“I’ve met him,” Mia said. “He scares the pants off me.”
“He used to be very lighthearted.”
“Before the fall?”
“Before the fall,” Wyatt confirmed. “Mia, Heaven was so different then. I don’t have anything on earth to compare it to, except to say that there were many strong personalities but still a strong brotherhood of angels. When that ended, it hurt so many on both sides. I believe you mentioned Michael.”
“I’ve become acquainted with him and Sariel,” Mia told him. She didn’t know why she withheld Raphael’s name. Instinct told her to play her cards closer to her chest.
“Michael and Lucifer were on different sides, and I was caught in the middle. And here I am.”
“I’m sorry for your pain, but you have saved my butt so many times.”
“Including now, hopefully,” Wyatt said. “Mia, we’re going to visit an acquaintance of mine named Quazar. He’s a practitioner of magic. Some would label him an alchemist, others a wizard. He’s not a devotee of Lucifer.”
“What about Abigor?” Mia asked.
“I don’t think so. Why?”
“He could snuff me out to curry favor with the duke of Hades.”
“He could, but he’s not political. He’s more of a survivalist. Quazar has lived a long time under the radar.”
“So have you.”
“Yes, I have. It has made me fat and boring.”
“And rich,” Mia said.
“Time makes you rich, Mia. The longer you’re on this earth, the more you can spot trends and invest properly.”
“Ah, wisdom,” Mia said.
Wyatt stared at the girl beside him. Her prepubescent body was incongruent with her experience. He had seen the memory of her fight with the demon with no name. It was swift and deadly. The realization that she had become the very thing she fought against her adult life
