Gates of Death - Rae Foxx Page 0,30

took us directly to Vincent's living room, and we collapsed on his couch to wait. I draped myself over the three of them.

When I was nearly dozing off, a door slamming jerked me back to full alertness. "Vinnie's home," Lucifer said with a gleeful smile.

We jumped up and whirled to face the doorway between the living room and kitchen. He'd come in the back door, through the kitchen. Luc and Michael flanked the door, leaving Gabe and me in the middle of the room to draw his attention.

He rustled around in there for a minute, then the noises went silent. "Hello?" He called.

A man appeared in the doorway, and almost immediately his eyes widened in shock. His tawny skin paled considerably. "Demons," he gasped. "Et abier—"

Luc cut off his words by wrapping a strong hand around his neck. "No. You won't be cursing anyone today."

With a gasp, Luc let go of the man's neck and shook his hand. "How?" he demanded.

Vincent turned to run, but Michael grabbed him by the throat this time. "He's an angel!" Lucifer yelled. "Or something."

Gabe and Michael's powers roared to life as they pulled them forward. They worked together to subdue Vincent, and Michael was soon able to let go of his neck.

"You two do that so well," I mused. Vincent walked around the couch and sat down in front of me. He had no choice. Michael and Gabe controlled his movements now. I couldn't sense his nature to tell what kind of angel he was, but I knew he wasn't an Arch, so he was no match for my guys.

If only I had my power. I sat on the coffee table, knee to knee with the man, and studied him.

"I know that look," Luc whispered, but I ignored him. "Don't interfere."

He was right. My power called to me. There was something it wanted me to know, but I didn't know how to heed it in this body. Grabbing the little sliver available to me, I prodded the mysterious angel's psyche, and it erupted in front of me.

Had I had access to my full range of powers, I would've seen this in the hospital the second I laid eyes on him.

"Oh, you've got a nasty aura, don't you?" I murmured.

Reading and interpreting auras had been one of my gifts from the moment of my creation. God bestowed me with the ability to read a true nature. But it wasn't easy, especially with such limited power. The wretch said something, but his words fell on deaf ears.

I whispered my findings as I wove my magic through his aura. It didn't want to do it, but it knew our job. Punishing the evil was our bread and butter, and there were few eviler than this Vincent.

"He is a sadist, for sure," I mused. Squinting at his coloring, I tried to decide if the upper right corner was more gray or brown. It sort of morphed between the two. "And he likes girls." When the realization stuck in my head, I was yanked out of my trance-like state and lost the ability to read him. "Young girls." The words dripped off my tongue like vomit. Standing, I walked around the coffee table to put space between us. "He's a pedophile, and he's killed. I didn't get time to tell how much he's killed, but the browns in his aura confirmed that. He enjoys chaos and pain."

Vincent glared at me but was unable to do anything thanks to the hold we had on him. "Let him speak," I said.

"I have nothing to say," he snarled.

"Okay, then. I'll speak." I bent over and looked him in the eye, keeping the coffee table between us. He couldn't hurt me, but I didn't want to be that close to something so disgusting. "Do you know who we are?"

He nodded. His eyes darted to Luc. "You're human, though. You can't hurt me. And they're Archangels."

Laughter bubbled up my throat. In my human body, it was easy to retain my humanity. Through all this mess, all the pain and heartache, I wanted to find my daughter, I wanted to find Raphael and get answers. But until this moment, I hadn't wanted to hurt anyone. I didn't want to punish. My eternal responsibility hadn’t seemed so vital, so real. As a human, nothing else mattered besides human trivialities. Uploading videos. Cooking dinner. Crafting a healthy marriage. I nearly laughed out loud.

I'd forgotten who I was. As I stood in the living room of a pedophile