“Sorry, but he hasn’t shown them to me either. Looks like neither one of us are worthy.”
“Oh, what a pity. I guess we’ll just have to keep trying.” She slid away from me and brought her arm up to slash him, but I called out to her first.
“What would it cost me to keep you from killing him?”
She paused, tilting her head at me in question. “Cost, ma cherie?”
“Everything with you demons seems to be about gaining something. What can you gain from killing Michael?” It was a dumb question but I had to buy us some time. She didn’t know I had the feather, but I would have to get close to use it. If I tipped her off, she’d tear me to pieces. Either way, I wasn’t about to let her cut him again. Not on my watch.
“Why, one less soldier to fight the war for good,” Mulciber said casually as if she were describing the weather and not the destruction of God’s Army. “With Michael gone, a less experienced angel will have to lead the forces. There can’t possibly be a thing you possess that is worth more than that.”
“So you’re like Belial, huh? Just one thing in mind?”
She snorted. “Please. Belial is the most shortsighted of us. You see how easily I made a deal with him to get the angel while he just went for your pathetic little soul. I’ll never understand why.”
“Because I killed Mr. N.”
Mulciber blew a lock of curly hair off her forehead, seeming bored. “Mr. Who?”
“The Seer who worked for God on Earth. Six foot two, black hair, blue eyes, scars on his hands, face, and neck. I killed him two years ago.”
Her brown eyes expanded. “You did that?”
I nodded. A shiver ran up her body, ending in a long exhale. “Ma cherie, I could kiss you. That man was such a pain in my derriere. I met him at the psychiatric hospital in Jersey all those years ago. Part of me regrets never getting the chance to tear his lungs out and watch him suffocate.”
The breath in my lungs evaporated. I managed to choke out, “Jersey?”
“Oui. You see, I am a traveling psychiatrist. I go from place to place and corrupt as many souls as I can in these hospitals because all they ever need is one little push. In Jersey, I had finally gotten my hands on a Seer, but that man came to visit and tried to keep her out of my clutches. I had been in charge of finding one in order to complete the abduction of an angel’s body, but because he intervened, I lost her. What ever was that poor woman’s name?”
“Jordan, don’t,” Michael whispered, his worried eyes fixed on my shaking shoulders.
“Catalina Amador.”
Mulciber stared at me. “How did you know that?”
“She was my mother.”
Michael shut his eyes and hung his head. Mulciber’s face lit up with a fantastic smile. She clapped her hands together as if I had just told her Christmas was coming early this year. “I cannot imagine anything more wonderful than this! I have killed the mother of an archangel’s human pet. Can it really get any more delicious?”
“Yes,” I whispered, reaching a hand towards the surgical tray behind me where a machete lay. “It can.”
She was standing too close to me to dodge as I snatched up the weapon and swung at her head. In my fury, I’d aimed high, at her smirking face—a foolish mistake that would certainly cost me. She froze, her wild black tresses hiding her features for a second, and then slowly turned back towards me. The tip of the machete had cut into her right cheek, leaving a trail of crimson down her chin that splashed onto her neck and collarbone. She now wore a thoughtful expression as she touched the wound, and then glanced at me.
“You are bold, Seer. Foolish, but bold.”
I gripped the machete’s worn wooden handle, my strength renewed at the thought of murdering this filthy creature with my own hands. “I get that a lot.”
Mulciber lowered her stained fingertips, eying me. “Are you challenging me, ma cherie?”
Behind me, Michael struggled against his bonds to no avail, his voice an urgent hiss. “Jordan, don’t—”
“You bet your ass I am,” I shot back, ignoring him. I didn’t need to hear a warning. I knew what I was about to do was stupid and pointless, but I hadn’t come all this way to leave my mother’s murderer in one piece nor would I allow this demon to kill the man who had taken such good care of me.
She twirled the sickle again. “Are you saying you are willing to die to defend the archangel?”
“It’s not exactly on my To Do list, but yeah. I am.”
She smiled then, seeming satisfied with my answer. “Very well. I will allow you the chance to die for your angel.”
“Mulciber, let her go. You have what you want. You don’t need to do this,” Michael interrupted as she sank into a ready stance with her weapon.
She chuckled. “You’re sweet, mon ami, but it’s too late. Her fate is out of your hands.”