“Why do you think you’re here?” he continued. “Jehovah is babysitting you. Nothing more. Do you think He needed to outsource for the reaper position? He had His choice among billions.”
“You know, every time I talk to one of you gods or an angel or a departed who might know a little more than most, I get a different take on what I am. I’m Charley Davidson. That’s what I am. I don’t go to war. I don’t eat gods. I’m the least violent person you’ll ever meet.”
“Oh yes. I could sense your peaceful nature when you had the Razer kill all those men the other night.”
I startled, surprised he knew about the Colombians.
“It is in every fiber of your being. You devour your enemy without remorse. You make war look like child’s play. The generals of this world would do well to recruit you.”
I wasn’t going to argue with him.
“Then why are you here?” I asked as if I didn’t know. But I had to stall. To come up with a plan. I couldn’t just stop time to try to get to her. It wouldn’t work on him. He’d be right there with me. I didn’t dare try to get Reyes’s attention, although he’d probably figure it out sooner rather than later.
“Ah. Well, as you know, we are gods. We can go anywhere and become anything we desire on any plane as long as we have a way to get there. A portal? And therein lies my problem. Lucifer got us into this dimension. He used Rey’azikeen to do it. But the Razer only works between this dimension and Lucifer’s. Doesn’t do me much good. Therefore, I need a portal that can get me anywhere.”
“I’m a portal.”
“Yes, well, your Jehovah and I are not on speaking terms at the moment. He owes me a few thousand soldiers. Never paid up on a contract.” He leaned closer. “Just between us, don’t trust the Guy. No, I need your daughter.”
Every muscle in my body tensed in a knee-jerk reaction.
“I am not here to kill her, Elle-Ryn,” he said, rushing to appease me. “I would not be so base.”
“I thought you were helping Lucifer for that very reason.”
“Not at all. I just need her to get back to my home dimension. True, I’m going to kill every living being there when I get back, but you don’t know how they treated me.”
“What makes you think my daughter is a portal to your dimension?”
“Please, Elle-Ryn. Isn’t deceit beneath us?”
How the hell did he know? I just barely found out myself. I braced myself. Forced myself to calm. To think of something to say to stall him longer. “Then … then why are you helping Lucifer if you just want to leave?”
“Public relations. I scratch his back sort of thing. Her death is inevitable, either way.”
“You just said—”
“I don’t want to kill her. I did say that. And I don’t. But an everyday traveler using a portal is one thing. A god, however … we tend to destroy them. Portals. They’re usually only good for one trip, us being so vast and powerful.
“So, yes, I will end up killing your daughter, thus fulfilling Lucifer’s greatest desire. But I won’t kill her out of spite or malice. I mean her no harm. Harm is just an inevitable part of who she is. It’s in her genetic makeup.”
I eyed him curiously, trying to keep the anger from my expression. “Perhaps I’ll use your heart as a candy dish.”
“Perhaps I’ll split your skull while Rey’azikeen watches.”
We could do this all day. Hurl threats and insults at each other. I crossed my arms. “So, again, why are you here? Did you expect me to hand my daughter over to you?”
He cackled again, thoroughly enjoying himself. “Oh, no. We’ll find her eventually. We are hundreds. Thousands. If she is still on this plane, we’ll find her. I just need you out of my way first.”
“Do you?”
“You are proving more cumbersome than we’d imagined. Though I must say, Lucifer did warn us.”
“Who is us?”
“Lucifer’s army, of course. You didn’t think he’d forgotten about you? Or your daughter? He’s a little obsessed with all those prophecies that swear she is going to bring him down.”
“He’s just a fallen angel. I could bring him down with my little finger.”
“Yes. And you should have when you had the chance. He’s in his home dimension now. Safe from you.”
I let the barest hint of a smile slip across my face. “Never.”
He cackled again and clapped his free hand on the table.
People began to notice the hold he had on the girl. They whispered to one another. Weighed their options. Tried to decide if they should intervene.
“I’m sorry,” Eidolon said. “It’s just been so long since I’ve been around a power like yours. I’m getting—what do they call it?—a rush just being near you.”
“You mean a hard-on?” I asked, trying to insult him.
“In the worst way.” Before I could comment, before my next heartbeat, before the next ray of sunshine found its way into my hair, he moved. Fast, like Reyes. And just as deadly.
I threw both hands over my mouth when the girl’s head whipped around. Her neck cracked, and she crumpled to the ground, her tiny body like a doll’s.