did and spoke freely. This schmuck was being blackmailed. He killed an angel not too long ago and Raphael found out. He wasn't really on Raphael's team, so to speak."
"Then why'd you kill him?" I asked.
Luc brushed my question off. "Would've happened anyway. He killed his friend in cold blood. Any of the angel courts would have condemned him."
I rolled my eyes. "You should've left it to them."
"Sorry," he said. "Once Raphael left, this asshole kicked me around, slapped me a bit. Then told me what a piece of shit I was over and over. My temper got the best of me."
I grabbed his hand and pulled him close. "You were so worried about me getting hurt. I should've taken you with me. If you had your powers, there would be no match for you, but you don't."
He grunted and hugged me back. "Don't remind me."
I pulled Mark's soul close and took us back to the barn. Gabriel and Michael waited there with Joel and bound Uriel. "Ah, I see you were successful." I narrowed my eyes on Uriel, then used my power to stick him to the wall beside Genevra. "Joel, would you be a dear and put this soul with the one you're holding for me?"
Joel's eyebrows drew together. "I don't want to know, but yeah. I will." I felt his magic tug the sphere holding Marks' soul toward him. "Ugh," Joel muttered, then disappeared.
"One to go," I said. "Did you happen to get all those ingredients?"
Gabe nodded and pointed to a plastic shopping bag on the floor. "I put Sandalphon on it," he said. I poked through the ingredients and looked up. "No blood of the unborn?"
Gabe grimaced. "I didn't want to do it."
I rolled my eyes at his squeamishness and focused on Genevra. Using my power like a needle, I poked into her stomach and the tiny bundle of cells in her uterus. It was just old enough to have blood pumping through its little body. I didn't need much, just a few drops, which I carried down to my waiting hands. Unscrewing the tiny vial that held the angel blood, I added the blood of the unborn to it. "Whose blood?" I asked.
"Mine," Gabe said. "I was going to make Sandalphon but figured mine would be more powerful." Probably a good call.
"Let's go," I said. "Who is going with me and who is staying here?" We didn't all need to go. Once I got past the ward it would be easy.
"I'll stay with Luc," Gabe said.
Michael grinned at me and wiggled his eyebrows. "Let's go kick some ass," he said.
I moved us to the same spot I'd sat on the stump and mused several hours before. The angel Ezekiel was still inside, and the ward was as strong as ever. Using the stump as a table, I assembled the ingredients, mumbled the Latin words over the small stone bowl Gabriel had provided to do the spell in and watched it ignite.
Holding the bowl up, I used my power to drift the smoke rising from the bowl toward the ward. Where it hit, the ward fizzled. I fanned the smoke up and down, spreading it enough to create a hole both Michael and I could walk through.
As I moved toward the doorway made of smoke, I hoped Mary had been right about the spell and that I wasn't about to be vaporized by the powerful ward.
Holding my breath, I stepped through the smoke, then laughed in delight when I opened my eyes and discovered it had worked. The woman deserved a medal. Michael stepped through the smoke and joined me. "Now we just have to hope we can blink out of here and aren't stuck in here," he said.
The front door of the house opened, and an angel stepped out. He was handsome and looked like he could step into a boy band lineup at a moment's notice. "Stop there," he said. "I'll use my powers if you don't!"
The shakiness in his voice negated the threat of his words. The kid was scared out of his mind.
"Do you want to die before you've begun to live?" I asked.
Ezekiel shook his head. "No, I want to live," he said in a squeaky voice.
Hoping he won't be an idiot, I gestured to the yard. "Then come on. We just have questions for you. If you answer them, we won't hurt you."
He stepped off the porch slowly and moved toward us. This felt too easy, once we got past