‘Jesus. Preach to someone who gives a shit. Just give me a goddamn phone.’
Leona’s eyes couldn’t have gotten any wider if she’d held her eyelids open herself. ‘You, young lady –’
‘Leona, it’s okay.’ Vail entered the room carrying a tablet with some straw-hatted anime character sticker plastered on the back of it. The lizard perched on the kid’s shoulder, bulgy black eyes watching Azrael. ‘You can see she doesn’t know about any of this. Give her time.’
Time? For what? Keep him away from here, no matter what you might hear. Words straight from Blake’s mouth. But did that include hearing someone scream as they fell twenty-five stories out a glass window? What exactly was Kira keeping Azrael away from? She had no money to call a cab. And stealing the car wasn’t an option.
‘Well, she should know,’ Leona sniffed. ‘Why is she walking around with a bright one if she has no clue –’
‘Because my stupid bloody sister asked me to!’ Kira dropped back into her chair, and thumped her forehead against the tabletop. This was the worst trip she’d been on, and she was stone-cold sober. A hand rested on her shoulder. ‘I’m okay, Az. Just losing it.’
She sat up. Sure enough, Azrael’s hand rested on her shoulder. As she knew it would. Vail stood just as close, clutching his laptop, but Kira would have bet her overworked liver on it being Azrael touching her.
‘What is happening?’ she groaned, forehead hitting the tabletop again.
There was movement around her, a bit of whispering.
‘Do something, Leona.’
‘Fine, don’t get your knickers in a knot, boy. Here, have some of this. Calm your nerves.’ Something slammed down onto the table beside Kira’s head. And the sweet, sweet scent of red wine found its way through the stench. Kira lifted her head, chin resting on the table edge. A pint glass of crimson goodness sat a few centimetres away. Her hand moved before her thoughts did. Glass in hand she took a long, slow swig. Shiraz. Nothing fancy but it shat all over the house red they stocked at the Wheel and Barrow. Oh, Perry. What she wouldn’t do to be getting shit-faced at work right now.
‘What do you know of me?’ Az spoke in a low, almost sultry whisper. He moved up close to Leona, and she raised her hands. At first Kira thought it was a defensive move. Nope. Kinda the opposite. Her hands fluttered over his chest, her breathing quickening. Kira took another sip.
‘Nothing personal but it’s best I keep a distance.’ If the room hadn’t been dead silent, Kira might not have heard Leona at all, she spoke so softly. ‘We’re going to need help to decipher you. You nearly blew my eyes out of their sockets last time we touched.’
‘Oh Christ.’ Kira took another longer, harder gulp. ‘Your lines need work, love. When you’re finished fan-girling, can we go to a room that doesn’t smell of rotten ass?’
Vail stifled a smile. Apparently seeing her about to puke was something he found funny.
But Leona and Az were locked in a stare-fest. ‘Do you recall nothing of your origin?’
‘I do not,’ Azrael said. ‘Do you know who I am?’
His hands were raised as though he was fighting to stop himself from touching her. Nothing nefarious. Just desperate. And the ache of it slammed a fist into Kira’s cold, hard, metal heart. Her own ache this time. Good old pain-in-the-ass empathy.
The woman’s expression softened, and Kira bit her lip, bracing for the reply she saw coming.
‘No. I don’t. I’m sorry.’ Leona winced. ‘But I do believe I know where you are from.’
Vail placed the laptop on the table and darted a glance at Leona before clearing his throat. ‘Azrael, you might want to take a look at this. See if it means anything to you.’
The lizard made a chirruping sound. Kira blinked, sure she’d just seen the thing nod its teeny, grotesque dragon head.
‘Az can’t eat soup or drink beer,’ Kira said. ‘He’s hardly going to be able to read.’
‘Still, it might be worth taking a look.’ Vail tapped at the keys, swiping his finger across the touchscreen, eyes so narrowed they looked closed. ‘Help him remember who he is.’
‘There’s internet here?’ Kira said. Internet meant Skype. Or, at the very least, email. Ready or not, Blake, here we come. But her question was ignored. Leona pulled out a chair and gestured for Az to sit. He did, and Leona and Vail gathered around him, forcing Kira onto tiptoes to get a look at the screen. The web page’s flowery text declared that this site knew everything there was to know about Sumerian mythology. The entire page was mostly writing in a tiny font that would have been a bitch to try to read. There were a couple of pictures, though. One caught Kira’s eye. Some naked chick with clawed feet and great boobs held a staff in one hand, a small cup in the other, and had wings the length of her body draped at her sides.
Big Boobs was called Ereshkigal, apparently.
‘Ereshkigal, what kind of friggin’ name is that? Okay, what are we looking at? Az was an ancient Playboy Bunny?’
Leona puffed out a breath. ‘Ereshkigal is the queen of the underworld. The Sumerians worshipped her –’
‘Sumerians? Like in Jesus’s time or something?’ Kira said, draining more wine.
‘No, much earlier,’ Vail said. ‘We’re talking beginning of civilisation and –’
‘So what the hell has she got to do with Az?’
Azrael stared at the screen, but nothing showed on his face to betray what he was thinking. Quite possibly nothing at all. The guy had learned to talk all of five minute ago.
‘Oh by the Maiden’s laces, will you
