“Is he…”
Realization dawned as I remembered the flushed look of Lena’s body during our last dream encounter. Her all-knowing smile when I told her I would love you in whatever form you took.
We shall see about that.
“Yes, Henri,” Santiago said with more compassion than I thought him capable. “The body which harbors your soulmate is Nephilim, a bloodborn just like you.”
2
Henri
Just like me.
Santiago’s words echoed in my mind as we waited for Azrael to arrive. You finished feeding and drowsed in my arms. Your breath created small raspberries on your lips, tiny bubbles tinged pink with my blood. I saw it now—your advanced awareness, the smell of your skin, the sense of kinship I felt toward you. You were Nephilim. My mother Lena’s own bloodborn child. Our mother. She’d stolen your humanity and made you…
A monster?
My love for you was fierce and unconditional. You were no monster, only an innocent soul born into the body of a half-demon. Or half-angel, depending on whom you asked.
“Henri.”
I glanced over to where Santiago sat, but it wasn’t Santiago communicating with me anymore; it was Azrael, my master and possessor of the answers I sought.
“My lord.” I lowered my head in deference.
“Give the child to Xavier and join me. There is much to discuss.”
I kissed your forehead—smooth as calfskin—and handed you to Xavier with some reluctance. You stirred, your face crumpled into a frown, and you seemed about to yowl, but Xavier gently shushed and rocked you back to sleep. My arms were empty once again, and the loss went beyond just your physical absence.
I sat down across from Azrael and waited for his explanation. He spoke as though he’d been preparing for this moment.
“When I promised to redeem your lover’s soul, I had not yet negotiated the trade with Lena. As you can imagine, she didn’t take kindly to the arrangement we’d made. She was further incensed that I, as she claimed, ‘seized’ him. And she wasn’t altogether wrong. According to our rules, she was his soul’s rightful custodian.”
“So, you gave him right back to her?” I snapped.
It was not only that you were Nephilim that disturbed me, but that your soul would be bound to Lena for the rest of your immortal life. The bond between a Grigori demon and their Nephilim offspring was not something that could be easily severed, which meant no matter the physical or spiritual distance, she’d have influence over you. Instead of freeing you of her manipulations, I’d cursed you for an eternity.
“The agreement we reached,” Azrael said, ignoring my insolence, “was that if given the opportunity to birth a child, she would call upon his soul. And if he answered…”
You’d answered her call. Could you possibly know what was in store for you, or were you just that eager to return to me?
Not me. To the living.
“And you agreed to this?” I asked, unable to hide my incredulity, for certainly Azrael understood the implications of such an arrangement.
“We felt it was a fair compromise. She was imprisoned. We thought we could persuade her to give up the idea in exchange for leniency, but she was not to be dissuaded. Then we attempted to isolate her from any potential…” Azrael paused and seemed to struggle for words.
“Mates?” I asked. Angels could be painfully prudish.
“Yes.”
“And?” My tone was churlish and not in keeping with the respect I should display to a god of Azrael’s magnificence. I was rattled, and he’d given me no warning.
“She lured a human into her chambers and found a way to copulate with him despite her restraints.”
“And the child’s father? Where is he?”
The silence that resulted was ominous enough that even Xavier’s attention was pulled away from adoring you and toward the Angel of Death.
“She bled him to death,” Azrael responded.
I groaned aloud. Of course, she had.
“But she’s imprisoned now?” I asked, searching for some grace in all of this.
“For the time being.” I shot him a critical look. Azrael was not usually so circumspect in his manner of speaking, and I did not appreciate it now. “You know that demons are difficult to contain, and if she manages to escape her Shade Vale and return to her ancestral lands…”
Which happened to also be my ancestral lands.
“Then… she’s free?”
“We have her spirit-bound to her bloodborn body in a maximum-security facility with a guard she cannot enchant and no way for her allies to reach her. Not even my Potesta brethren know her location.”
I was silent at that. I knew the level of security Azrael would implement to confine a demon as sly as Lena. Even still, I learned long ago not to underestimate her.
“You must understand the burden you’ve placed on him.” This wasn’t what was promised to me. To us. You were supposed to be freed from her control entirely. That was the deal I’d made for the sacrifice of your life—the body I’d loved so dearly and the future I’d stolen from you.
“There’s more.” Azrael lifted his hand as if to silence me. “Lena is permitted to visit the child in dreams.”
I dragged my fingers through my messy hair. “How will I be able to keep him safe from her corruption if she can poison him while he sleeps?”
Azrael was silent—infuriatingly so—while I deliberated your fate. An orphaned, half-demon babe with an insatiable thirst for human heme. With a demoness mother using whatever influence she had to control you, no human family could shelter you, which meant…
“I request that I be relieved of my holy duties in order to care for this child,” I said in a somber tone. I didn’t see any other way. No one else could understand the peculiarities and risks of your situation.
“I’m afraid that isn’t possible,” Azrael said. “The Thrones were quite adamant about your penance.”
“Then who will raise this child?” I couldn’t exactly strap you to my back while I was out chasing demons.
From a few feet away, Xavier cleared his throat. I glanced over and he raised his eyebrows slightly.
“You?” I asked, astonished at first, but quickly warming to the idea. Xavier was intimately familiar with our kind, and he was exactly the type of person I’d want for you to have as a parent—kind-hearted and empathetic. An exemplary man in all regards. He’d loved you in your past life, more so than you even knew, and he would love you again.
But I couldn’t expect him to do it alone.
I glanced back at Santiago’s seated form. The two of them were having an affair, of that much I was certain, despite not having their union blessed. If Xavier was willing to take you on as his charge, then this was the least I could do for him in return.
“My lord, if I was able to find two suitable guardians, one human and one divine, to care for this child, would you bless their union?”
Azrael sighed and asked, “Do you mean the two beings in this room who refuse, despite our warnings, to be apart?”
I shot a glance at Xavier who only nodded slightly.