Malcolm tries to scowl his disapproval of Lilly’s methods but I see a hint of a smile play across his lips and this time the smile makes it to his eyes. Malcolm leans down and kisses Lilly on the forehead gently, and I know the action means more than just a friendly peck. It’s then I understand why Malcolm is so over protective of Lilly: he’s in love with her.

  “Next time,” he says, a playful admonishment in his voice. “At least pick somewhere warm to go. You might catch a cold out here, dearest.”

  “Next time,” Lilly answers back, “don’t make me go to extremes when I have an opportunity to make a new friend.”

  “I will try,” Malcolm says, but I can see it will be an impossible task for him.

  “Ok, let’s get back before my husband starts to worry.” Lilly holds her hand out to me. “Maybe Brand and Mason can figure out why Jophiel’s crown was hidden in your father’s fireplace.”

  Unfortunately, when we tell Brand, Mason and Malcolm which archangel the crown belongs to, none of them have a grand epiphany.

  “It’s definitely a mystery to me,” Brand says as he and Lilly sit on the leather couch in the living room together, holding hands. “By all rights, that crown shouldn’t be on Earth at all.”

  “That’s what Lucifer said too,” I say absently, which seems to be the wrong thing to say in the wrong place.

  Malcolm comes at me so quickly I don’t completely register the pain from him slamming me against the wall at my back until I’m pinned there by one of his large hands squeezing my neck.

  “How do you know Lucifer?” He demands.

  I instantly feel Malcolm’s hold around my throat disappear as Mason hits him with an open palm from the side, sending Malcolm flying across the room until he crashes into a wooden table by a picture frame window.

  “Enough, Malcolm,” Mason thunders and even I flinch at the authority in his voice. “I’ve tried to put up with your behavior for Lilly’s sake but you have gone too far this time. From this point forward you are to leave Jess alone unless I say otherwise. You are not allowed to touch her unless her life is in danger or she allows it. Am I making myself clear or do we need to step outside to finish this conversation?”

  Malcolm picks himself up off the floor. “No,” he says, rubbing the arm Mason just slammed, “you made yourself plenty clear. But how does she know Lucifer? We weren’t told about that part.”

  “No,” Mason admits, “I purposely left that information out. I didn’t want to cause Lilly any undo worry.”

  “It’s not like I thought he simply disappeared,” Lilly says. “I know he’s still around.” Lilly looks at me. “But how do you know him, if you don’t mind me asking?”

  “It wasn’t by choice,” I assure her, rubbing my neck to take away some of the sting from Malcolm’s attack. “He came to see me the same night I met Mason for the first time. And he’s seen me carrying the crown.”

  “What does he want with you?” Brand questions, his face a picture of worry and I know it’s not worry over where my loyalties lie but for my safety.

  “I think,” I start to say realizing the rest of my sentence sounds ludicrous inside my own head before I say it out loud, “he wants to be my friend.”

  “Friend?” Malcolm scoffs. “He hasn’t had a friend since the war and even then he was so egotistical only Michael could bear to be around him.”

  “Did he say why he wants to be friends?” Brand asks.

  “Just that he felt a strange yearning to be with me.”

  “Does he want to have sex with you?” Malcolm asks bluntly.

  “Malcolm!” Lilly and Mason say at the same time with totally different inflections. Lilly’s is admonishing while Mason’s voice holds a note of warning.

  “What?” Malcolm asks. “It’s an honest question. You know how Lucifer can be.”

  “I did ask him about the sex thing,” I admit, feeling my face grow hot with everyone staring at me. “He said his yearnings weren’t sexual in nature. Even the friend thing he wasn’t completely sure about. He just said he feels some sort of connection with me.”

  “Maybe we can use his feelings for you to our advantage,” Mason says. “He might unintentionally let his guard down around you and tell you things he shouldn’t. If anything, Lucifer is vain and likes for people to think he’s the smartest person in the room.”

  “Just be careful if you intend to play that sort of game with him,” Brand tells me. “And don’t be fooled if he tries to play on your sympathies. He’ll use whatever knowledge he has about you to gain your trust. Don’t let him. He only cares about himself and his own agenda.”

  “And we still don’t know what that is yet, right?” I ask.

  “No,” Mason admits. “But we can count on one thing: whatever it is won’t be pleasant for anyone.”

  “Should I try to lead my conversations with him to get the information we want?” I ask.

  “No,” Malcolm answers. “He likes to feel in control of things. Simply follow wherever he leads, eventually he’ll end up telling you what you want to know without you having to do anything but listen. Just be patient and let him feel like you’re someone he can let his guard down with.”

  “How do I do that?” I ask, not sure how you gain the trust of the devil.

  “Be yourself,” Lilly advises. “You’re someone he naturally wants to confide in from what you’ve said so far. If you try to act the way you think he wants you to, he’ll know and leave his guard up when he’s around you. It may be difficult, but try to relax when you’re with him. I don’t think he has any intention of harming you. If he did, he would have done it by now. You’re a mystery to him and he revels in the fact that he knows everything. Be his enigma. That in itself is probably part of the reason he feels attracted to you. You may be the only thing on Earth or in Heaven that he doesn’t understand.”

  “So,” Brand says, “what about the crown? There must be a reason why it sent out that homing beacon so you could find it when you did, but what triggered it to activate?”

  “It had to be when Jess killed the changeling,” Mason says. “Like I told you before, I felt a disturbance when it happened. It seems logical the crown was meant to activate when Jess showed the first sign of her powers.”

  “Why do I have powers?” I ask. “All of Allan’s test proved that I’m an ordinary human. There’s nothing special about me.”

  “You are special,” Lilly tells me. “We just haven’t figured out why yet. But rest assured, we will.”

  “How can you be so confident about that?” I ask.

  “Because it’s your destiny.”

  “God tell you that too?” I say jokingly.

  Lilly smiles. “Yes, in His own obtusely, round about way, He did.”

  “I don’t suppose He would just flat out tell you what’s going on?” I ask hopefully.

  “Uh, no.” Lilly tells me with a smile and shake of her head. “Unfortunately, He doesn’t help like that. Sometimes He forces you to find the answers for yourself in order to reveal another piece of the puzzle.”

  “Sounds incredibly annoying,” I say, which receives smiles all around, even from Malcolm.

  “Annoying is a good word,” Mason says, his eyes twinkling at me in amusement.

  I feel my heart tighten in my chest from the way he’s looking at me and instantly find myself wondering how I can make him look at me like that more often.

  I glance in Lilly’s direction and see her eyes travel from Mason to me. A knowing smile spreads her lips and I quickly look away.

  “Mom!” I hear Caylin yell in agitation as she chases a boy of about ten or eleven into the living room.

  Brand catches the brown haired boy around the waist as he attempts to run by him. The boy laughs as Brand pulls him onto his lap.

  “Will won’t give me back my book,” Caylin complains, slightly out of breath as she stands in front of her parents.

  “Will,” Lilly says, a motherly warning in her voice, “that was a Christmas gift to your sister, not you. Give it back to her.”

  “But I just wanted to read it. It’s not really a book anyway. It’s a comic.”

  Caylin quickly pulls the book out of her brother’s arms while her father has him trapped. “It’s a first edition copy of Calvin and Hobbes you dork. It’s a collectors item not something to play with.”

  “Is that what Joshua gave you?” I ask coming to take a closer look. If there was one thing Faison and I could agree on it was reading Calvin and Hobbes before we went to sleep as children. Calvin’s imagination was fodder for a lot of dreams in my youth.

  Caylin holds it out to me and I see that it’s not only a first edition it’s a signed copy.

  “Wow, that is a collectable. It must have made a dent in Joshua’s savings.”

  “You think?” Caylin asks, her face lighting up.

  “He must think a lot about you,” I tell her as she smiles shyly at the news.

  “Hmm,” I hear Malcolm say. “I’m sure he does.”

  I immediately decide to make sure Joshua gets his chance at an innocent romance with Caylin. If left up to Malcolm, Joshua wouldn’t be able to see her until she was eighty. We Calvin and Hobbes fans had to stick together to fight the injustices of the world, or at least their over protective uncles.

  “Speaking of Joshua,” Mason says, “we should probably go back to headquarters and tell the others what we’ve learned.”

  “Remind Allan and Angela about coming over for dinner Christmas Eve,” Lilly tells Mason. “And you had better be here this year too. No more excuses about work. The world will continue to rotate for the few hours you spend with us.”

  “I promise I’ll be here,” Mason says like he’s talking to a nagging mom.

  “Good,” Lilly looks at me. “You’re more than welcome to come with Mason,” she suggests. “There will be a lot of other Watchers present you might like to get to know.”

  “Thank you,” I tell her, “but I have a family obligation of my own to go to that night.”

  “Family comes first,” she says looking at her husband and kids. “But know that you have an open invitation to our home, which ever one we might be occupying at the time.”

  “Thank you,” I tell her, knowing she means it and isn’t just saying it to be polite.

  “We will contact you if we figure anything else out,” Mason tells them all, holding out his hand to me.

  As soon as my skin touches Mason’s, I find myself standing in headquarters staring at a video feed of Lucifer talking to Faison outside my house.

  Chapter 10“When did he arrive?” I hear Mason ask Nick and Joshua who are sitting in front of the control panel watching the scene as it unfolds.

  “Not too long ago,” Nick answers. “I don’t think they’ve been talking for more than a couple of minutes.”

  “Take me home,” I say to Mason, not caring that it sounds like an order not a request.

  Without argument, Mason grabs my arm and phases us to my house.

  “I’m sorry we didn’t get to talk more at the hospital last night,” I hear Lucifer say to Faison.

  “Faison,” I call as we come to stand with them. Faison jumps slightly and holds a hand to her heart, obviously not aware that Mason and I just phased in.

  “Jess,” Faison smiles at me, not having a clue how much danger she’s in, “I just came over to see if you wanted to go out to lunch and found your friend here waiting for you to ask the same thing.”

  Lucifer turns to me with an enigmatic smile on his face.

  “I wanted to check on you after what happened last night,” Lucifer says to me, his eyes sliding over to Mason. “Mason,” he says in a greeting which lacks any warmth.

  “I’m fine,” I tell Lucifer, desperately wanting to get Faison out of his presence.

  “Why don’t you and Faison go on to lunch?” Mason suggests, coming to stand in between Lucifer and I in a protective manner. “I would like to speak with Lucian about a private matter since he’s here.”

  I grab Faison by the arm and say, “Let’s go.” Silently thanking Mason for giving me a good excuse to get Faison out of harms way

  As I’m dragging a bewildered Faison to my car, I chance a glance over my shoulder and see Mason and Lucifer engaged in a staring contest which looks anything but friendly. Once safely inside my car, I crank it up and drive quickly away from a possible nuclear explosion of wills about to happen in my front yard.

  “Who is that Lucian guy anyway?” Faison says. “You never told me after what happened at the hospital. Is he a Watcher too?”

  “Listen to me carefully,” I say, “if you ever see Lucian again, you walk in the opposite direction, ok?”

  “Is he dangerous?” Faison asks sounding fascinated.

  “Yes, and not in a good way. He’s the most dangerous man I know,” I tell her, not having to exaggerate in the slightest. “Please, don’t talk to him again if you can help it and for goodness sakes don’t let him inside Mama Lynn’s house. Ok?”

  Sobered by my words, Faison nods. “I’m sorry, Jess. I didn’t know. He seemed ok the way he took up for you at the hospital. He certainly put the fear of God into Uncle Dan when he spoke to him. And he looks so nice. I thought he was someone you trusted.”

  “Like they say, don’t judge a book by its cover.”

  Faison is silent for a while as I drive us over to the Hollywood Café for lunch.

  “So Mason seemed awfully protective of you back there,” she says.

  “Don’t read anything into it. Mason isn’t interested in me like that,” I say, even though I feel a small part of me wish he were. “Besides, you know my rule.”

  “Ugh, that stupid rule again?” Faison looks up to the Heavens. “Why can’t you make her act like a normal human being for once?”

  “Who are you talking to?”

  “God,” Faison says, closing her eyes. “I’m sending up a silent prayer to ask that He make you give up your rule about not getting serious with someone until the Tear is closed. Amen.”

  “It’s a good rule,” I say defensively. “If you’d ever lost someone to that thing, you would understand.”

  Faison looks over at me and I see fire in her eyes. I silently wait for the explosion.

  “I understand just fine,” she says in a controlled voice. “Who was the one who held you when you used to cry yourself to sleep because you missed your parents?”

  “You.”

  “Who beat up Wendy Shea when she picked on you for being an orphan?”

  “You.”

  “And who goes out to that field by your folks house every year to see if they’ll be returned or not?”

  “You.”

  “So don’t sit there and tell me I don’t understand what you’re going through Jessica Michelle Riley because I’ve pretty much been through it all with you since the day we met.”

  Faison crosses her arms over her chest and looks out the side window.

  “Faison,” I say, trying to draw her attention but she refuses to look at me. “You know I love you. I wouldn’t have made it all these years without you by my side. Please don’t be mad at me. I’ve got too much going on right now to be in any condition to handle that kind of added strain.”

  Faison’s arms slowly uncross as she turns her head to look at me. “Just promise me one thing,” she says, “and I won’t be mad at you.”

  “Anything.”

  “If things go well tonight at the party with Mason, I want you to ask him out on a real date, not just one I set up for you. And I mean a real, God honest date, where you get all gussied up and go out to dinner somewhere nice.”

  “Why is it so important to you that I date?”

  “Because everyone needs somebody, Jess. You’ve been hiding from the world since we were kids, never letting a boy kiss you or even give you a proper hug from what I know. You’re twenty-two years old and you’ve never been kissed by a man you care about. That’s just not natural Jess. Stop hiding behind the Tear and what Uncle Dan did to you, let yourself feel something for another person.”

  “I love you and Mama Lynn,” I say in my own defense.

  “That’s because you didn’t have much choice in the matter. We wouldn’t have let you hide from us no matter how hard you might have tried.”

  “So me asking Mason out is contingent on us having a good time together tonight, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “What if we make each other completely miserable? Am I still bound to this promise?”

  “No, you can wiggle your way out of it but only if I see that the two of you don’t have a lick of chemistry.”

  I nod my head. “Ok, I agree to your terms. Now stop being mad at me. You know I can’t stand it when we fight.”

  “I don’t like it either,” Faison says.

  Suddenly, I do something I almost never do, sneeze.

  “Are you coming down with a cold?” Faison asks.

  I shake my head. “You know I hardly ever get sick,” I say, just as I sneeze a second time.

  “No getting sick,” Faison firmly orders. “You are not going to find a way out of this date tonight.”

  I sneeze again and cough for good measure. I groan inwardly because I know I’m coming down with something. Whether I want to admit it or not, I actually was looking forward to taking Mason to the party that night. As I pull into the gravel parking lot of the Hollywood Café, I suddenly have a coughing fit and begin to resign myself to the fact that my plans for the evening will most likely not be happening.

  By the time we make it back to my house, I know I’m running a fever. Faison makes me get into my comfy red Santa Claus flannel pajamas, take some medicine and crawl into bed.

  “Rest is the best thing for you,” she says, placing a glass of water and a box of tissues on the nightstand by my bed.

  “I need my phone,” I tell her, barely able to keep my eyes open I feel so tired. “I should call Mason and let him know I’m sick. I’m not making it to that party tonight.”

  “I’ll handle that for you,” Faison reassures me. “You just get some rest.”

 

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