Two and two added up to a number I didn’t like. “I’m…” I swallowed the thickness in my throat. “Dead?”
“I’m afraid my curse backfired. When you and Lucifer did the nasty…” He drew a finger across his throat in a cutting motion.
“I died because I had sex with the Devil?”
“I imagine there are worse ways to go.”
My fingers shook as I scrubbed my face again. I pushed to my feet and thought better of it when my knees gave out. I sank back down.
My legs were weak. My body spent. My brain hammered a sharp staccato inside my skull.
I couldn’t be dead. He must be playing me. “How do you know?”
He flicked the cigarette to the ground and tapped a finger against his temple. “I know, remember?”
Déjà vu. I’d died and gone to Hell before. Now I felt the same hollow sadness weighing me down. My bucket list was still a mile long. I hadn’t said goodbye to anyone. Who would take over the shop?
Emilia and Keisha would take care of things, of course. Didn’t make the idea of being dead any more palatable.
Just like the first time I’d died, some things didn’t ring true. And I wasn’t one to give up easily. “Why would I go to purgatory? Why wouldn’t I go straight to Hell?”
“Redemption, duh. God believes in it, you know. Apparently He believes in you as well.”
Same message, different messenger. Still wasn’t buying. “This isn’t the purgatory you climbed out of.”
“Hell and purgatory are different for everyone. So is redemption. By the looks of it, you fear being alone. Separation from those you love. Am I right?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “And then there are those ugly mommy issues. You think you’re to blame for her leaving, don’t you?”
Unexpected anger heated my cheeks. “That’s none of your business.”
He raised his hands in a placating gesture. “Relax. I’m not here to psychoanalyze your dysfunctional family. I have enough of my own family issues to deal with.”
“Then why are you here?”
“Good question.” His eyes became guarded. He looked around at the destruction. “My curse brought this on you, so I guess it’s my responsibility to atone for that.”
Intuition told me there was more to it. A lot more. “What is this curse you keep referring to?”
Shifting his sword out of the way, he sat next to me and ignored my question. “Look, all you have to do is admit your sins, survive purgatory’s holy fire purge—courtesy of Lucifer’s big brother Michael—and you’ll be headed for the pearly gates before you know it.”
“No way. No pearly gates. I want to go back to my life. On Earth.”
“Your life was screwing up Heaven’s plans. Even if my curse hadn’t backfired, there’s no way Michael was going to allow you to live much longer.”
“Allow me to live? Michael’s playing God now?” I stopped Z with a hand before he answered. All the archangels had a god complex. “What exactly are these plans I’m screwing up?”
“Cephiel didn’t explain any of this to you?”
Not that I remembered. “I don’t tend to listen to him.”
“Can’t say I blame you. He’s a bit Type A about all of this, and he’s not too happy he’s been assigned to you.”
“Makes two of us. I’d love it if Heaven and all you angels would leave me alone.”
“That’s where the rub comes. We can’t.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
A confused frown pinched his forehead. He studied my face. “You really don’t know who you are, do you?”
“What is it with you angels and my name?” I punched a thumb into my chest. “Amy Atwood. Owner of Evie’s Ice Cream and Lucifer’s former right-hand witch, who is now trying hard to be good.”
Zayfeer chuckled, looked out at downtown Eden and made tsking noises. “Lucifer, you dog.” His studious gaze returned to my face. “He never told you the truth. But why?”
Annoyance burned in my chest. So did unease. “Tell me the truth about what?”
He stood and held out a hand. The hand with the sigil. “Come inside. I want to show you something.”
My eyes traced the sigil and a mental light bulb went on. It was the reverse image of the Mark of Cain. The Mark of Cain repelled black magic and evil and destroyed anyone or anything that might harm the bearer. What did the reverse of that mark do? “Your curse attracts evil, doesn’t it? You’ve had to fight every day in purgatory since Lucifer fell.”