Jealous Angel
He searched his memories of the last time he’d seen her—in the past, not in another timeline where she’d been destroying the compound or wrapped in Tessa’s moldavite chains. Her energy had been different then, enough that he hadn’t recognized her until now. Had he given any indication in the past that he would be the one to rescue her? And rescue from what? All he could remember was a lonely young woman who’d thought every man who gave her a second look was her soulmate. She’d glommed onto any man who threw her crumbs of affection, even the mildest of smiles or hellos—all dead now. He’d been kind to her, but nothing in his history with her warranted her reaction to him.
“Who did this to you?” Raven navigated the scant wooden pews as he crossed the chapel floor. He stopped just out of her reach.
“People are afraid of me. Please help me, Raven. Get me out of these chains!”
How could he tell her that even if he had the tools to break the chains or unlock them, he couldn’t interfere? How could he say, “Sorry, Mika, but I’m a time traveler, and I’m scared shitless that I’ll mess up the timeline if I break you out of here because this is my last journey across time, and I can’t afford another fuck-up”?
“I… I can’t. But someone else is going to come along and help you, I promise.” He’d seen her in other timelines so someone must have freed her. Would free her? Future tense in this moment? Someone, in any tense, just not him.
“No. No, you have to help me!” Leaning toward him as much as the chains would allow, she stretched out her hands toward him.
“Sorry, I…” What had the demon said about him helping people and that being his downfall? And how many times had he done it anyway? Maybe he should heed the warning this time, this last doorway through time. Besides, Mika was dangerous. One touch from her and—
“Why won’t you help me? And who’s this Lilah Burns? You’d help her, wouldn’t you?” Jealousy for no reason he could imagine burned in her eyes. She swatted at him, trying to grab him with her left hand.
The Left Hand of the Past. He knew the prophecy. Some previous incarnation of him had written it, thanks to the demon’s gifts to some other Lord Aryx. The angel’s left hand would allow her to see the past of the one she touched, but once those memories were shared, only the angel would remember them. The person who lost the memories would have a gaping black hole where the memories had been. And Raven knew what missing memories could do. The angel had the ability not only to steal knowledge but also to change the course of the future by taking those memories.
The Right Hand of the Future was equally disconcerting for the recipient of her touch. Instead of seeing memories of the past, she—as well as the person she touched—could see their future. If there was one. If not, they saw only darkness. Appropriating visions of the future permitted the angel to see what would come to pass in the next years and allowed her to prepare for it, but the effect on her victims was often horror. Mika had used her gifts to escape the lab, and she’d left a trail of madness and death behind her.
The touch of both hands could kill instantly, as could her kiss. Only one man was safe from her touch—the Last Priest. According to the prophecies, an angel’s hands on his bare skin would ordain him and hasten ascension. In that sense, they were meant for each other. Only he could then touch her without suffering the consequences. He’d never understood the prophecy until this moment, and only because he’d seen Mika in that lab. The empath would lead him to her—and in a way, Lilah surely had. Mika would bring about his ascension, but only when the time was right. Not now.
The time wasn’t right. Not here, not in this Galician church a few years before The Shift. He needed an angel in the future, in that compound with the labyrinth and bonfires.
Raven shoved everything out of his head for a moment and let himself listen, just listen. No ringing in his ears. No tug back toward the future. No change in the timeline. Not yet. And no convincing her to join his cause in a distant future.
“Mika? Are you listening to me?”
She wasn’t. She was flailing, reaching for him. He stayed just out of her reach.
“Mika. I need you to stop and just listen to me.”
Her arms sliced through the air between them in one last frantic, jealous attempt before her shoulders sank. The wings sagged, and sunlight streamed over them.
“Are you listening?”
She nodded, her pink-brown hair tumbling into her eyes but shining golden where the sunrays struck it. “Please free me? Take me away with you?”
Holding his palms in front of him, he mirrored her position. Their palms almost touched, and he could feel the sting of energy between them. “I can’t. Not yet. I can be here only for a few moments to talk with you and let you know someone is coming to free you. Things are going to happen in the world. Bad things. I need you to find me on the other side of it. Head to Virginia, outside of Washington, D.C. To what the Daeganeans call the Three of Cups compound. My mentor spent years building it as a sanctuary he foresaw we would need. Or I’ll find you through magic.”
She took a step back. “I-I know what’s coming. I’ve seen it.”
Of course, he thought. The people she’d touched and driven mad. She would’ve seen the world in their futures before they fell into despair. The tidal wave. The volcanoes. The fire. The earthquakes. If anyone knew what was coming, it was an Angelseed discovering her terrible gifts.
“I’ve seen it, too.” Lived it in multiple timelines. “We will find each other then. You and I will be a team, okay? We’ll help each other.”
Raven paused. He should feel the tug at any second to let him know he’d healed the timeline. Any second, any second.
She nodded and stepped forward again, palms reflecting the heat from his. “I’ve seen you in other people’s memories. Past and future. Please, Raven. Take me with you. Now.”
How could he explain that they were from different points in time? In her now, a younger Raven Darbyshire worked for Aoife. In her now, Raven Darbyshire had not yet found a way to extricate himself from Aoife’s grasp. Any change in the Raven of that era might be a change in who he would become. He might become someone who would never go back in time to her now, here in this formerly pagan church in the countryside near Santiago. It would be years before she could join him on his mission.
“I can’t. It’ll be a few more years—”
“No!” She leapt for him, trying to press her palms against his chest before he could jump back. “I can’t wait years! I need you now. Right now. Now!”
“I’m sorry but—”
“Now!” Tears streamed down her face. She crumpled to the floor, wings hanging over her, drooping.
The bright sunlight blinded him. Raven stepped back and knelt in front of her, partly to see her fully and partly to avoid her touch. She was dangerous now, and feral.
“Mika, I promise you that you won’t be here long. Someone will come to get you out of here. I don’t know who, but I do know they’ll come. Do you believe me?”
She sniffled. “Kinda.”
Runes and sigils glowed on her skin. Occasionally an astrological sign. Occasionally a symbol from books he’d seen in various libraries of the priesthood. She could be a powerful ally if only she would trust him. What did he need to do to convince her to join destinies and partner with him in the next age of Earth—without changing the future entirely with some misstep? He was already fighting his natural instincts to break her chains and whisk her away to safety.
“Mika, I can’t free you, but is there anything else I can do for you? I could sit with you for a while.” Though he couldn’t answer questions, not many, for fear of changing too much. “I can be here for you to let you talk. I can help you pass the time.” All things that had meant the world to Lilah whenever she’d been anxious.
The angel lifted her chin to him. Her head slowly bobbed up and down. “Hold me?”
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