Echoes of the Past

Chapter Twenty-Four

Back in Iran, I was starting to wonder how many more times I’d be able to pop up outside Eden before word got out that I was the son of Satan. I can’t imagine I’d be very welcome after that, not that I was now. Fortunately, this time, I’d phoned ahead for Duke Forcalor. I didn’t want to play pat-a-cake with Uriel. I think he already knew who I was, which was probably why he was so hostile. Can’t say I blame him.

As I stood on the hot desert sand waiting for the duke to drop down from Heaven, I picked up another familiar essence alongside him. Narrowing my eyes, I raised my hand to shield them from the sun and stared upward. Two golden trails spiraled down toward me, one a good distance ahead of the other.

My pulse raced as I watched them descend. I had to turn away as the first of the angels hit, dirt kicked up into my face. It didn’t matter. I knew who it was the instant she grabbed me by the back of my neck and pressed her sword against my throat. I was amused until I felt the point of her blade.

“Is that a sword at my neck, or are you just happy to see me?”

“What did you do, Frank?” Scarlett screamed.

She was alive. I took a tentative breath, doing my best not to help her slit my throat, and smiled. “Glad to see you’re alive, cousin. We’ve been worried you.” Forcalor landed behind her.

“I’ve been in Limbo, looking for Azrael.” She pressed a little harder against her blade. “Where is he, Frank?”

My first instinct was to plead innocent, seeing how she hadn’t asked if I’d killed him. His body should have been right where I left it. Since it obviously wasn’t, I didn’t see any reason to take credit for killing her prisoner. “I don’t know.”

It’s hard to think being bad isn’t inherited at this point. At least, technically, I didn’t lie to her.

Scarlett glared at me. “Don’t tell me you didn’t have anything to do with his disappearance. There was blood and a bunch of bullet shells, DA slayers to boot, all over the place.”

“Hey, don’t get me wrong, I matched stubborn silence with violence, but I don’t know where’s he’s gone.” That was the truth, if you don’t count the twinge of his essence I’d stolen after I shot him in the head. I certainly didn’t know where his body went. “I didn’t get the answers I was looking for and he wasn’t talking. We left it at that.”

She stared at me for a long, frightening moment, before she pushed me away with an angry grunt. “Then he could be anywhere in Limbo, by now.”

I didn’t think he could get far with a hole in his head, unless something came along and scooped him up. Given all the unknown things that lived in Limbo that was a distinct possibility. I could only hope something had eaten the bastard’s body and shit him out on the other side of the way station. Scarlett shook her head and sheathed Everto Trucido. I felt better already.

“What was it you needed, young Trigg?” Forcalor asked as Scarlett fumed, scuffing holes in the sand with the toe of her boot.

I pointed at my cousin. “The alien told me he’d taken Scarlett to lure Lucifer out of hiding. Clearly, that isn’t the case.” He must not have been able to find her in Limbo, the dimension unformed and resistant to probes from the outside world. That’s why we couldn’t get a hold of her. Gorath probably told me he’d taken her to get under my skin before I died. That was nice of him.

She turned and glared at me. “What alien?”

Not looking to explain the whole, sordid fiasco from the start, I motioned to Forcalor. “He can explain the details, but there’s an inter-dimensional demon who’s looking to use you to find where Lucifer is. We’ve got his servant locked away and we’re going to find out where his master is hiding soon enough and hand him his ass. Just stay in Heaven and you should be fine…and call Katon, while you’re at it.”

“Oh, great, Frank. What have you gotten me into this time?”

I raised my hands. “Not me, cuz. You can blame this one on great Uncle Lou.”

Scarlett spit on the sand. I figured right then wasn’t a good time to tell her about the unexpected shift in our family tree. She wouldn’t take it well.

“Is that it?” Scarlett asked. Before I even completed the nod, she was gone, winging her way back into the sky.

Duke Forcalor grinned and gave a half bow. “I’ll keep an eye on her for you.” He stared up after her. “She’s more like Lucifer than she would ever dare admit.” He laughed and clapped me on the shoulder. “Be well, young Trigg.” A moment later, he was gone.

Glad that Gorath had been full of it, I reached into my head to find the psychic link to Michael. “Hey, Mike, you around?”

I heard the mental static kick up a few seconds later. “I’m here.”

“Tell Katon that Scarlett has been found, and that she’s fine and I passed on a message for her to call. She was in Limbo the whole time and is now in Heaven. I guess Gorath was just yanking our chains.”

I heard Michael pass on the message, but couldn’t hear Katon’s response. I figured he was happy. “Katon says thanks.”

“Tell Rahim to hold onto E.T. for a bit, and let me know if y’all figure anything out. I have to take care of something. I’ll check in when I’m done.”

Michael passed on the affirmative, and I gave him the coordinates I needed Rahim to send me to. Once that was done, I shut down the connection and felt the tingle of Rahim’s magic take hold. I was whisked away a second later.