Like I had an answer? I might have been to Hell, but this was new territory even for me.
“Why?” I asked the sword-wielding man as I helped her to her feet and guided her to a chair. Slime dripped off my hands and I snagged a towel from behind the counter. I handed her a second towel for the blood dripping down her neck. “How did this happen?”
Sword guy ran a hand through his long locks. Angel, my magic said. His ice-blue eyes met mine as if he’d heard my mental pronouncement. A sense of foreboding, dark and ominous, made me shiver. “The first meal after two hundred years will be the sweetest he’s ever had. Nothing and no one will compare to our fair Mikayla here. He’ll be back for her.”
Just what I needed. Another angel in my hair and a vampire stalking my friend. Not to mention demons running amok in town.
I fingered the ice cream scoop, a renewed sense of justice taking hold. “Let him come. I’ll turn him to dust like the others.”
The three of us looked out over my destroyed shop and the piles of ashes on the floor. The man righted a stool and set it next to the counter. Swinging a leg over it, he used napkins to wipe spatters of demon blood from his face. “There will be more. Many more.”
Great. “More demons? More vampires? What?”
He examined his sword, picked up the towel with Mikayla’s blood on it and wiped the blade clean. “You opened the gate to purgatory.”
“Excuse me?”
Using the sword, he pointed at the smoke. “Purgatory. The first level of Hell.” He waved the sword at the halved demon in the window and the dust heaps. “That’s where all these things came from.”
Mikayla touched her neck again. “I thought purgatory was a punishment for humans.”
“Purgatory is for anyone in need of redemption. And the demons living there dole out the punishment.”
Tossing the towel on the counter, I blew out a sigh. I knew better than to ask, but did so anyway. “And where exactly did you come from?”
His eyes met mine, a raw, aching hunger darkening them. “Let’s just say Latimer’s not the only one who hasn’t eaten in a while.”
Chapter Four – Spear or Spike
He was an angel, I was sure of it. But one that had crawled out of purgatory? Weird, but I was used to weird. And that might explain the freaky eyes.
“You’re not a vampire.” I pointed at the sword. “And that’s no ordinary sword.”
He touched a finger to his nose, signifying I’d hit the bull’s eye. “Give the lady a prize.”
“Fallen angel?”
His eyes glittered with mischief. “I heard you were quick.”
“You heard? Where, on the purgatory grapevine?”
“I’m tapped in, so to speak.” He drummed his temple with a long, slender finger. “With Heaven and Hell. You were Lucifer’s soul broker. The angels and the demons discuss you frequently. Even more than Britney.”
“Britney?”
“Spears? Surely you’ve heard of her.” He winked one of his freaky eyes. “You’re much more popular than she is down below, in case you were wondering.”
Riiight. And the three-headed demon that had destroyed my shop’s plate glass window, thanks to Mr. Tapped In, was a figment of my imagination. “Why is an angel in purgatory?”
“I fought beside Lucifer in the Great War.”
“The Great War?”
“Against God. As you know, we lost. Bummer that…” He paused for a moment, looking off into the distance but seeming to see something besides the walls and chaos of my shop. “My sentence for serving Lucifer was to spend eternity in purgatory until I redeem myself.”
He’d fought on Luc’s side. Had to give him points for that.
Didn’t mean I trusted him. “Keep being useful to me with these demons and I won’t send you back there.”
He smirked, apparently doubting my abilities.
Let him doubt. When the time came, I’d wipe that smirk off his face. “What’s your name?”
“Xavier in Heaven. Zayfeer in Hell.”
God really needed a new baby name book. “Zayfeer?”
“Means ‘west wind’. Ever hear the expression ‘an ill wind is blowing’?”
“You’re the ill wind?” At his look of satisfaction, a new thought dawned. An ill wind had definitely blown in a few minutes ago. “Did you have anything to do with me killing Lucifer?”
Mikayla gasped. “You killed him?”
Zayfeer’s gaze cut left to the smoke column, back to me. “The Mark sent Lucifer back to Hell.”
“He’s still alive?”