“I assure you, I did not,” a weak, raspy voice replied. “I do, however, want to rectify the situation.”
“You cannot, old man,” he said, his eyes returning to the disturbed earth. All at once his power abated and the rocks and asphalt fell to the ground. “No one can.”
“Yes, it does appear you lost this particular battle. But you and I are angling to win a war, not a battle.”
Andre stood, a severe frown on his face. The impulse to follow his mate into the ground was nearly impossible to drown out.
She is immortal. She will come back. She must.
“The devil is trying to seduce your mate,” the man said. “What is worse, his efforts are sincere.”
“Who are you?” Andre asked.
“An ally.”
“Gabrielle has no allies.” None except for him and her two friends.
Andre took a step forward. “You have told me who you are to Gabrielle,” Andre said, “but I still don’t know your name, and thus, who you are to me.”
“Jericho Aquinas, the owner of this store,” he pointed to the dusty storefront behind him, “and the keeper of a valuable object that belongs to Gabrielle.”
Andre’s eyes narrowed on him. The name rang no bells, and it should’ve. He made it his business to know powerful beings.
“If you will please come in,” the man said, motioning to the door. “And hurry.” He looked up and down the block. “Our business needs to go unnoticed by all parties.”
“If this is a trap, I won’t hesitate to cut you in two, angel.” As it was, Andre’s unholy power had a tight grip on him, and it wasn’t letting up.
“Messenger,” the man corrected. “Angels are the sword of God. I am the mouth. I do not wish to be compared to them.”
Andre wasn’t yet convinced the distinction had any merit. But Gabrielle had also faced off angels and still been intent on coming here, to Jericho’s Emporium.
Andre inclined his head. “Lead on.”
The man wheezed a laugh and clapped him on the shoulder. “You aren’t half bad, for a damned thing.” He turned on his heel and headed inside, his joints stiff from age—or so he’d like others to assume. The scent of holiness poured off of him.
“Why trap yourself in such a withered body?” Andre asked, following him inside.
“Perspective.” The man’s voice was a husk of what it should’ve been. “There is no vanity to distract me from my purpose here.”
“And what is that purpose?”
The man gave a shrug but said nothing.
Andre took in the grimoires that lined one of the store’s walls. Rows and rows of seemingly benign knick-knacks lined the room. But the dusty looking glass to his right was actually a prized perception mirror. And the rusted daggers laying on the shelf next to him always landed where they intended.
“How did Gabrielle find you?” Andre asked, his eyes roving over a magic carpet as he followed the messenger to the back of the store.
And why has she never mentioned you to me? he wondered. It was his own fault, he supposed. Andre had found her leaving this store only days ago. He should’ve probed more then.
Jericho mounted the stairs, his breath coming in pants. “She followed bread crumbs.”
Immortals and their puzzles; they loved nothing more than to make the worthy work for their messages. “What did she find?”
The messenger didn’t speak until they’d stopped outside a door. “A means to her salvation.”
“Don’t give me hope, old man,” Andre growled. He couldn’t bear it. Gaining his mate only to lose her again.
The celestial pulled out a key, but made no move to open the door. His voice dropped. “But that is exactly what I am giving you. What I’m about to entrust to you must remain the most heavily guarded secret you’ve ever kept. Not even the devil has eyes into this place, and I’ve taken pains to hide from him what you’re about to take. The seer’s shroud still flows through your system, yes?”
“It does.” The potion Hestia gave him would wear off in several weeks. Until then, it hid him from the eyes of seers.
“That is fortuitous for it will hide you from the devil’s sight as well. The seer’s shroud no longer protects Gabrielle, as you might’ve guessed from the earlier ambush. She is the least safe from the devil and his spies, and that is why I am putting what rightfully belongs to her into your safekeeping. If the devil suspects anything, he will now come for me. So, I ask you again, can you guard what I’m about to give you with your life and keep it a secret?”
Andre gave a sharp nod, growing more curious about this object by the moment.
When Jericho opened the door, Andre leaned into the blast of magic that hit him. The old man shuffled over to a shelf, grabbing an object cloaked with canvas. He set it on the table and removed the material.
Dios mio.
Andre hadn’t paid much attention to this particular detail in Gabrielle’s note. The item that could save her. But the proof stared back at him.
Irrefutable.
“It’s real?” Andre studied the iridescent feather trapped in the glass case.
“I plucked it myself,” Jericho said.