“This is the same neighborhood in which several other children have gone missing, is it not?”
Michael, Gideon realized. He’d know that voice anywhere. He’d been meaning to have a little chat with the angel about a number of things, primarily about his daughter. About the fact Maggie was now his mate. And about the fact she carried their child. Michael’s grandchild…and that realization gave him a moment’s pause. How messed up was that?
Oh, hell. Might as well get it over with.
“It is.” A moment passed, and then Samuel added, “Do you feel that? I sense…a demon presence.”
Oh, this wouldn’t be awkward, not at all. He drew a deep, bracing breath.
“Out slumming, are we?” he asked as he stepped from the shadows.
“Traitor,” Michael hissed, dropping instantly to a battle stance, his attention never leaving Gideon. A flaming Sword of Justice appeared in his hand, crackling and whooshing through the air.
Samuel had stepped to the side, assuming a safe distance from Michael’s sword, to say nothing of his unfurled, lethal wings. Samuel did not summon his own sword. Instead, he frowned and his eyes turned completely white, the way they did when he was “weighing” a soul.
Normally, Gideon would have had some witty bit of banter ready to poke at the angel. But he had too much on his mind, and matters were far too serious at the moment.
“Michael, we need to talk,” he said, holding his empty hands up to show he meant no harm.
“Talk?” Michael sneered. “You’ve just murdered an innocent. I can feel the surging power inside you.”
“He was no innocent,” Gideon countered, scowling now but working to keep a level head. Getting into a pissing match with Maggie’s father would get him nowhere.
“So you say,” Michael accused, taking a determined step forward, angling his sword, obviously preparing to attack.
“The bastard I just drained was one of Maggie’s foster dads.”
Michael hesitated, all the blood seeping from his face.
“Yeah, that’s right,” Gideon said. “Maggie. You know, your daughter? Remember her?”
Michael shot an uneasy glance over his shoulder. But Samuel looked on, his expression carefully blank, as if he’d tuned the entire conversation out. Maybe he had. His eyes were still all white. The process usually only took a matter of seconds. By the saints, were Gideon’s sins so numerous that he was still weighing him, even after all these minutes?
“How did you—”
“Doesn’t matter how,” Gideon growled. “The fact is I did.”
Michael started forward once more, his demeanor even more dangerous than before. “If you hurt her—”
“Oh, don’t even try to play the protective daddy card. You haven’t earned it,” Gideon said. “Do you have any idea what that bastard almost did to your daughter?”
Michael continued to advance, not really hearing a thing Gideon was saying, to Gideon’s everlasting frustration.
Gideon was aware that Samuel had gone still, his eyes returned to normal, his rapt gaze bouncing between the two of them. Michael finally stopped advancing.
“His name was Randy,” Gideon said, hurrying to explain, knowing he’d only have a small window of opportunity before Michael’s hate got the better of his personal judgment. “He was one of the foster dads Maggie was placed with as a child. He was also a pedophile. One that came dangerously close to molesting Maggie when she was just a kid. Only reason he didn’t succeed was because she managed to fend him off with a steak knife she stole from his own kitchen.”
“You lie,” Michael hissed. But Gideon could see the doubt creeping into his blue-green eyes and furious color bloomed in his cheeks.
“Samuel knows I speak the truth. But you’re too blinded by your own hatred to plainly see what’s before you. Weigh me for yourself.”
Michael hesitated for a good long while, visibly struggling between doubting Gideon just on principle and his own inherent need to acknowledge the truth. Finally, he gave in to his nature. Easing forward, he peered hard at Gideon, his eyes turning white.
Shock, sick disgust filled Michael’s countenance. When his burning stare returned to the present, to the corporeal demon before him, he demanded, “Where is Maggie now?”
“She’s safe.”
“With you?” Incredulous fury had taken over Michael’s disgust. “With your legion of traitors?”
“Yes, with me and mine.” Now his own hackles were rising. “You didn’t exactly do a bang up job protecting her, now did you?”