“Of course.”
“You have to stop him.”
“Certainly. First, however, I will ensure you are capable of defending yourself even when I am not completely consuming your every waking second.”
“I feel a drill coming,” Julia said, her face pained, and before I got to confirm, she continued, “It’s Sunday. You said it was rest day.”
I took her hands into mine and splayed them over my abdomen, pushed them down, down…
She paused. “I have to pee.”
I groaned. “Later.”
“I have to pee right now.”
Sighing, I dropped my wings. “Do you promise to return to me?”
Julia frowned, scratching her head as if confused.
“It is a simple yes or no question.”
“Sure.” She stood. “Yes.”
Julia’s body fluid needed regulating. I hadn’t taken care of that, but now I would. I directed a thought at the door, and the lock clicked. Julia heard it and nodded. She looked around the room, presumably for her clothes. The comforter and the blanket lifted and shook out. Underwear and a shirt fell onto the mattress. Julia dressed, then stood there pantless and shoeless, crossing her legs. She bent forward, face red, and I laughed at her expression.
“You have the afternoon off,” I said. “I will join the fleet. Meet me in your chambers for supper.”
She smiled and pecked me on the lips, then ran out.
I clicked my tongue for the light benders to enter my room after she left. One entered, and the other one followed her until she slammed the door in his face. I clicked my tongue again, telling him in no words not to enter her chambers. Even inside Julia’s private chambers, I should not have an issue with a light bender shadowing her. I recognized I couldn’t stand the idea of him seeing her in the nude. I disliked not having him inside there, and I disliked not having him shadow her. One outweighed the other.
Noditas, his people’s marshal, appeared before me in his most corporeal form, which was a blend of things he stood in front of. Transparent but corporeal, not quite invisible, a trick of light an untrained eye would miss. “Commander?” His gaze found my middle, and he looked away.
The closet doors swung open, and I picked out another black kilt with a red hem. Standing, I brought the kilt to me, then fastened it around my hips.
Noditas pointed at the fleet. “A new dawn is upon us.”
“It is.”
“What are your orders?”
“Rally your troops, enter every home, shop, school, ship, and even places previously prohibited to you, including altars and secret and sacred grounds, and listen for my brothers. I want rumors, however stupid they might sound, but most of all, I want to hear what they plan.”
“They plan to steal the Sword of Creation, Commander.”
“Is that all?” I tilted my head.
“Yes, I believe so.”
“You believe, or you know?”
Noditas wiggled his nose. “I do not know.”
“I want to know.” My brothers could detect the presence of a light bender. A rare one could go unnoticed, but there were some who had done this for me in the past. Noditas was one of them.
“Commander, if I may. If we are all out there listening, who will hold vigil over the sword?”
“I will.”
“Allow two guards,” he pleaded. “Only two.”
“None. Everyone you have goes, except you. Did you find my mortal’s former family?”
“I have.”
During the time in bed and her fight against my brother, things slipped, and she spoke. It sounded like nonsense but now I understood better. She’d mentioned her parents. Lucifer didn’t give a shit about her parents. He just wanted to make her suffer. I cared that Julia didn’t suffer, and I couldn’t ignore her struggle. She lived in the Before and couldn’t let go. So the Before had to let go of her. “Arrange an accidental meeting between her and one of the family members, preferably not the child.”
I paused, and Noditas nodded.
“You will follow my mortal today and every day until I dismiss you. You will project a different facial image upon her so people can’t recognize her. You will protect her with your life, but only if you feel her very existence is in danger. Otherwise, you will make yourself invisible as only you can.”
“I am to babysit a mortal?”
“Soldier, you’ve lost your place. Find it.”
“I cannot send my people on a suicide mission and stay behind. Let me go with them. She’s just a mortal!”
The windows slid open. Cold winds swept his body and slammed him against the wall. The wall turned to clay, and I trapped him, suffocating him in darkness. From within the clay, he begged.
I released him.
Noditas flickered in and out of his corporeal form. He knelt, a universal sign of submission. “Here, Commander, kneeling before you, I found my place. Forgive me.”
I ran a palm down the side of his head. “Are you asking me for forgiveness or ordering me?”
“Asking.”
“Forgiveness granted. Don’t fail me.”
Noditas stood. “I worry about you during your resting state. How will you guard yourself and the sword?”
Brave, this one. “Evil never rests. Neither shall I. Go.”
He vanished.
I approached the window. Now, the males in my fleet trained to hold the levitational position for a long while so they can rest their wings and still perform in the air. However, this particular position with their wings erected drained both their energy and their power. The stillness required to hold this position was difficult. Some males in the line had dropped a few inches.
“Awwww, are we feeling tired?” I hopped up on the windowsill, my bare feet stepping over the edge, holding position, rising above so everyone could see me and, more importantly, I could see them. Beautiful. Feared. Glorious warriors. Well, most of them were warriors. I eyed the ones who dropped from the line and didn’t recognize them. “Lawd Almighty, what do we have here?”
The slackers rose up, red-faced, wings shaking.
“You better not drop down there and splatter like a fucking egg. Are you an egg, soldier?”
“No,” the fleet shouted as one.
“What are you?”
“We are the Command Fleet.”
I waited. Just
