Maggie couldn’t process Xander’s revelation, could only stare in shock.
As if by unspoken agreement, a grim Niklas took up where had Xander left off. “From the time we were all created, Michael and Gideon were like brothers. When Gideon chose to follow Lucifer, Michael took it as a personal betrayal. Every time there’s been a confrontation since the Fall, Michael has made a point of going after Gideon with a vengeance. Now that you and Gideon…well, you’re Michael’s daughter. He’s going to see this as another betrayal. A personal attack on Gideon’s part. He’s going to be gunning for Gideon with both barrels now. Despite the fact that Michael is an angel, he can be one vicious SOB.”
Maggie leaned back in her chair, her appetite gone.
“Maggie, I think there’s something else you need to understand.” Niklas leaned forward, pushing his plate away and bracing his elbows on the table.
“No more, please,” Maggie said, shaking her head as she closed her eyes. “I don’t think I can take any more revelations tonight.”
“This isn’t exactly a revelation. But you do need to understand one very fundamental thing about Gideon.”
Maggie pressed her lips together. Resigned, she nodded, waiting for him to go on.
“Gideon may be a strategist at heart—and he’s not afraid to fight dirty—but it’s hot passion that drives him. Passion and a righteous rage, not the cold ruthlessness it would require to use a child as a pawn in this fight. That’s why he loses control when he battles. He might believe himself capable of most anything. And he probably is when he’s Temptation. But there’s one line Gideon’s never crossed, even in demonic form and mindless with battle rage. He has never hurt a child. And I would personally vouch that he never will.” Niklas stopped to draw a breath, studying her face. “Something like that? Creating a child to use as a pawn? It never would have even crossed his mind.”
Maggie bit her lip, her gaze skating away. Dear God, she wanted to believe him. But trust didn’t come easy to her.
“Why did you say it like that? When he becomes Temptation? Isn’t he Temptation all the time?”
Niklas frowned. “It’s how he sees himself. Like there are two halves of him. There’s Gideon. And there’s Temptation. Two separate beings. I guess it’s how he deals with the rage, separating himself from it. But he hates that side of himself, that part that loses control. And he fears it too. Fears what he might do to one of us…or do to you.”
Maggie stared down at her plate, overwhelmed by all the revelations she’d learned that night.
Gideon slowly straightened, removing his hand from the now motionless chest of his last meal. His skin crawled, and he fended off a shiver. The bastard had been evil, pure putrid evil to the very recesses of his shriveled soul.
Nevertheless, the power pulsing inside Gideon, now that he’d fed again, was unbelievable. He felt like he could move a mountain. Hell, he felt as if he could conjure one without breaking a sweat. He popped his neck to one side, then the other, stretching the tight muscles in his neck. Tipping his head back, he let the meager beams of moonlight filtering down through the dingy warehouse skylights bathe his face.
He was slightly sick to his stomach, disgusted that in order to feel this good, he’d had to do something that despicable. An unfortunate side effect he’d been dealing with for longer than he cared to think about.
Shake it off. There’s nothing for it. Besides, I need to be in top form, especially now. I have a woman and a child to protect. My woman. My child.
A wave of power shifted through the air somewhere nearby, followed closely by a second wave. Angels—Gideon knew instantly. Only an angel gave off that silvery resonance. Caution dictated he leave the area at once. Curiosity got the better of him. Why were angels there of all places?
He slipped out the small side door, and eased around the back of the building, slipping into the shadows of the alley.
“The child went missing in this neighborhood.” A soothing male voice drifted to him.
Samuel, Gideon guessed. One of Michael’s flock. Samuel had always been levelheaded, weighing all the facts—all the circumstances—rather than categorically meting out justice. After Kyanna had been discovered, Samuel had made several attempts at contact. But Xander and the rest of the Fallen, hell even Kyanna herself, hadn’t trusted the angel’s intent.
A tiny grin tugged at Gideon’s lips when he remembered the message Kyanna had demanded Samuel deliver to the rest of his compatriots when she’d thought an angel, namely the Archangel Gabriel, had killed Xander. She’d cussed like a sailor and threatened every last Heavenly being ten ways from Sunday with all manner of vile things. Bad old Lucy himself couldn’t have done better.
For a moment, Gideon considered making his presence known.