The man cocked his head. “Do you doubt my intentions?”
“That’s pretty apparent,” Andrew snapped. The moment his eyes left Catalina, Andrew raised the handgun and fired at him. The man dodged his shots with unbelievable speed, darting over to Catalina and grabbing her by the neck. He pressed the tip of the blade to her heart, pinning her against his body.
“Fire one more shot and I’ll kill her.”
“Let her go,” Andrew snarled, aiming at his head.
“Drop the gun.”
“Don’t you understand? They don’t need her! Let them take me instead—I’m a Seer!”
The man shook his head. “You are not pure enough. The woman is what they want. Drop the gun.”
“Don’t,” Catalina whispered. “They’ll kill you.”
Andrew shook his head wildly, gripping the gun tighter. “ I won’t let them take you, Cat.”
“And I won’t let you die because of me.” The tone of her voice, the quiet serenity in it, and the calm look on her face told him all he needed to know. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion.
Her hand gripped the hilt of the blade and shoved it through her chest. It sliced through her body and plunged into the man’s heart, killing him instantly. He dropped to the ground behind her and she fell to her knees, blood soaking her blue hospital shirt and turning it black.
“Cat!” He dropped the gun and ran to her, catching her before she could hit the pavement. He couldn’t breathe. There was blood everywhere, even on her beautiful face. Her breaths were shallow and trembling and he knew she only had moments left.
“C’mon, stay with me, Cat! I can heal this, I know I can,” he whispered, raising his hand above the knife. He poured every last bit of his energy inside her that he could, but the bleeding didn’t stop. The wound was too severe. He didn’t have enough power to save her and it killed him.
She smiled softly, watching him through half-lidded eyes as she lowered his arm.
“Mentiroso.”
He almost choked on a sob, brushing the hair away from her forehead. “Why, Cat? I could have come up with another plan, I could have saved you—”
“You did save me, amor. I knew from the beginning that this would be the end of my life. It is ending on my terms, not theirs.”
His head snapped upward as he heard car doors slamming in the distance. The cops had arrived.
She touched his cheek, making him look at her. “Go. You cannot let them catch you.”
“Cat—”
“Go, amor. I will see you again. I promise.”
He closed his eyes, ignoring the hot trails of tears streaming from them, and kissed her one last time, cradling her soft body in his arms. He pressed his forehead to hers, his voice so low that she almost didn’t hear it.
“I’ll hold you to it.”
“Whatever happens…take care of Jordan any way you can.”
“I will.”
“I love you.”
“I love you more.”
Gently, he lowered her to the ground and folded her hands over her stomach, saying a quiet prayer for the passing of her soul, and then fled into the night.
When Andrew finished speaking, I didn’t know what to say. In the end, I wiped my eyes, glancing at my mother.
“I guess we have more in common than I thought.”
“Perhaps. I never intended for you to suffer the same fate as me, Jordan,” she said, her brows wrinkled with worry. “I always wanted you to be happy and live free of the persecution we escaped.”
I touched her arm, feeling a little stronger. “But I did. For the past few months, I have been happy. Between Lauren and the archangels…I have a family. It’s not the one I always thought I wanted, but it’s still exactly what I need.”
A beautiful smile touched her lips just before she pressed them to my forehead. “Then my worries are at rest.”
“Now,” Andrew said, though he hesitated before breaking up the moment. “I hate to be Buzz Killington, but we’ve got a war on our hands, and one that you guys aren’t exactly winning.”
“I know. There’s just got to be a way to defeat the false angel. Tell me you guys can help.”
My mother shook her head. “Our souls have crossed over. We can never return to Earth. We can, however, offer advice.”
“You can tell me how to kill it?”
“Yes and no. Think about it. What did it take to create the false angel?” Andrew asked.
I paused, remembering. “The sliver of the True Cross, my blood, and Belial’s.”
“So that, in essence, is a trinity of Christ, man, and angel, though fallen. Those are the greatest powers in all of existence. This tells us that violence alone will not destroy the false angel,” my mother said.
“So you’re saying we need to combat their trinity with our own kind of trinity?”
She nodded. I frowned. “But how? Gabriel said that we can’t extend our defense powers to each other. We can only use them for our own protection.”