Into the Void (The Godhunter, Book 10) Read online

  “Thank you,” he sighed. “So you gonna ask Azrael to introduce you to his father?”

  “Does everyone know that Lucifer is Azrael's father except me?” I sat up straight and looked at Trevor with horrified eyes.

  “Pretty much,” Trevor shrugged. “He's the Angel of Death, who did you think fathered him?”

  “I don't know,” I pouted. “He never told me.”

  “You should have asked.”

  “I guess I should have,” I sighed.

  “I'm just messing with you, Minn Elska,” Trevor laughed. “I didn't know about Azrael's dad either, Roarke told me.”

  Chapter Three

  “Azrael, you home?” I called out as I walked through the hallway of Azrael's home in Shehaquim, the third Heaven. That's the one between corruptibility and incorruptibility. Yeah, I know, I didn't understand it either when Azrael told me.

  “In here,” Azrael called and I followed his voice down the hallway he used as a gallery, and into his office.

  “Oh, I'm sorry for interrupting,” I stopped short in the doorway when I saw he had company.

  There were three other angels besides Azrael in the room, seated in chairs in front of Azrael's big wooden desk. Azrael was seated behind it, looking very serious and very beautiful. He was in a light blue dress shirt and black slacks, very unusual for Az, he was normally more casual. The other angels were just as nicely dressed, though in my opinion they couldn't hold a candle to Az. They all had amazing charisma though, making the priceless paintings mounted on the walls and the ancient sculptures set around the room on pedestals, fade into the background like so much junk.

  Michael I knew already, he winked at me when he saw me, tossing his golden hair like a surfer boy. Next to him was a young man with golden brown hair and hazel eyes that looked me over like he was inspecting a new type of fungus. The last angel had dark brown hair and eyes even darker than that, darker than sin, which was kind of ironic I guess. He had a face I would sooner call severe than handsome. He was definitely attractive but in a vicious, apathetic kind of way. Hey, some women like that, I don't judge.

  Their wings made the large space seem much smaller, even with them pulled in tight to their backs. They were fascinating, each pair was different. Azrael's were jet black, so black that it seemed to absorb the other colors in the room, even the sunlight streaming in through the open curtains was conquered by the darkness of those wings. Michael's were white, an extreme opposite to Azrael's, and the boyish angel had dove gray wings, like Azrael's and Michael's had mixed. The last guy had wings which were the most unusual of the lot, white fading to pure gold at the tips.

  “No, it's fine, Carus,” Azrael stood and the others stood with him, turning toward me so that I got the full potency of their impressive looks, complete with delicate tattoos of angelic script on their cheeks. “We were just finishing. I know you've met Michael,” he waved a hand toward Michael but the other angel was already beside me, giving me a hug.

  “Good to see you, Triple V,” Michael said as he pulled back.

  “Triple V?” I lifted a brow.

  “I heard about your triple trinities,” he nodded. “You're becoming a woman to watch.”

  “Oh no,” I waved my hands before me in a negating gesture. “Don't watch me, nothing to see here, people, just keep moving. I'm just an ordinary witch.”

  “Scary huh?” Michael laughed. “Lookin' over your shoulder a lot?”

  “In all the realms,” I rolled my eyes.

  “Well not in my territory,” Azrael said decisively and with a look aimed at the other two angels. “You'll be safe here, Carus, or there will be hell to pay.”

  “Quite literally,” Michael laughed and steered me toward the unknown angels, who looked like they'd say more to Azrael, if only I wasn't there. “Now Vervain, this is Gabriel,” Mike waved a hand to the youngest looking angel, the one with the gray wings. “Gabe, this is Vervain.”

  “Nice to meet you,” I held out my hand to him.

  “The Godhunter,” he said as he looked at my extended hand a moment before finally shaking it limply. I hate limp handshakes.

  “Yep, that's me.”

  “I expected you to be taller,” he looked down his nose at me. He was, of course, taller than I but that's hardly an accomplishment. At five foot three most everyone was taller than me and being only a few inches bigger than that, made Gabriel kind of short for a god.

  “And I expected you to be an adult,” I looked him up and down. “Have your balls even dropped yet?”

  “Holy Harbinger!” Michael laughed as he pounded Gabriel on the shoulder. “ She just verbally bitch slapped you.”

  “She's lovely, Azrael,” Gabriel said snidely, pulling his shoulder away from Michael's ministrations with the ease of one well practiced in the art.

  “And this is Raphael,” Azrael came forward to make the last introduction.

  “I've heard a lot of unusual things about you,” Raphael surprised me by holding a hand out to me first.

  “Yeah, that's my life,” I shook his hand. “Unusual. And now I'm shaking the hand of an archangel, one more unusual thing to add to the list. Which I guess makes it normal for me.”

  “Indeed,” his lips twitched just the smallest bit, reminding me a little of my fey husband, Arach.

  “Well, this has been swell,” Michael said with enforced gaiety.

  “But the swelling's gone down, right?” I smirked at him.

  “Right,” he winked at me again and followed the other angels out the door. “Catch you later, Triple V.”

  “See ya around, Big M,” I waved.

  “Big M,” I heard him say to the others as they walked out. “I kind of like that.”

  “It's two letters short of a fast food sandwich,” Raphael said drily.”

  “Damn it!” Michael swore. “Why do you always have to ruin everything for me?”

  “Always and everything,” Raphael sighed. “Could you be more dramatic? You sound like a child.”

  Oh yeah, I think I could get used to Raphael.

  “Carus,” Azrael waved a hand toward the chairs in front of his desk. I took one and he sat next to me. “What is it? Has something happened?”

  “I've been researching ways to bring Odin back,” I blurted out. “I found a book written by Lucifer which mentions the Void and implies that he's been there. Why haven't you ever told me he's your father?”

  “You've never told me about your father either,” he shrugged. “They just never came up, I guess.”

  “My father from this life died when I was eleven,” I felt horrible that we'd never talked about this. At least with Finn I had the excuse of not being his girlfriend. With Azrael, I was just a jerk. “The father from my last life died when I was very young too but I'm not sure when and I have no memories of him.”

  I looked down at the beautiful ring on my right hand. The clear cabochon seemed to wink at me and I felt an instant connection to the father I didn't know. At least he'd known about me, cared about me even, to have left me the ring. Maybe I could go back sometime and meet him. The ring glowed warmly and I blinked at it in surprise. Go figure, it had an opinion.

  “I'm sorry,” Azrael took my hand and a wave of comfort flowed through my tense limbs. “I can't imagine what it's like to grow up without a father.”

  “It's okay,” I shook my head. “Both of my mothers did what they thought was best for me. My mother in this life, surrounded me with so much love, I never knew the lack.”

  “That doesn't surprise me,” he huffed a small laugh. “She's a wonderful woman.”

  “Yeah, Odin did something right when he chose her,” I sighed. “Will you introduce me to your father?”

  “Of course,” he said without hesitation. “He's actually been asking to meet you.”

  “He has?”

  “Word has gotten around,” he looked a little sheepish.

  “I didn't happen to be the subject of this little meeting I just walked in on,
was I?” I narrowed my eyes on him and he squirmed.

  “Some of the Angelic Host feel that you've become too unpredictable,” Azrael's jaw clenched and anger filled his face. It wasn't an emotion I saw there often so it kind of shocked me.

  “So I'm unpredictable,” I tried to laugh it off, “how is that a bad thing? At the very least, I don't think it's bad enough that a bunch of angels should be worried about it.”

  “They're not worried about you Vervain, it's your powers,” he sat back, letting go of my hand and withdrawing his comfort. “No one like you has ever existed and we have no idea what your capabilities are. That makes the angels nervous for numerous reasons.”

  “Like what?” Now I was getting mad. Who were they to be nervous about my powers? It's not like I was going to hunt them down... unless they were planning on doing something horrible. “Wait, are they bad angels? I mean, are they planning to do something to humanity that might convince me to hunt them?”

  “No, that's not it at all,” Az shook his head. “In fact, it's quite the opposite. We angels still have human belief backing us. People light candles for us everyday. Admittedly, candles are a small sacrifice but they add up and the energy we receive from humans makes us treasure them. We are indebted to your race and we feel very protective over them. It's our protective natures that have caused a problem with how they view you.”

  “They don't think I would ever harm humans, do they?” I was aghast. I'm called the Godhunter because I kill gods obviously. I don't kill humans.

  “I don't believe you could ever go that route, not unless it was necessary,” he leaned forward and took my hand again.

  “But they do.”

  “Some of them have brought up instances where power has served to corrupt humans,” he said gently.

  “Absolute power corrupts absolutely,” I quoted. “Maybe but I'm not just human anymore. I not only have two other races, I have a trove of good friends that will help keep me on track.”

  “These are some of the arguments I've employed,” he nodded. “Look, don't worry about it right now, Carus. They won't do anything to you as long as you have my support.”

  “Not anything they'll tell you about anyway,” I huffed. Great, now I had to worry about a host of avenging angels descending upon me for the crime of being who I was.

  “We share a bond now, a holy one,” he gave me a secret smile and I couldn't help but smile back, remembering our exchange of wine with Kirill. “I'd know if someone hurt you and if it was an angel, I'd know who did it.”

  “Well that's a groovy trick and all,” I smirked, “but what good is it if they kill me? Whether you know who did it or not at that point is moot.”

  “I was implying that the threat of me knowing should deter most angels,” Azrael's eyes shifted into sparkling diamonds and the angelic tattoo on his cheek started to glow blue. “I've made it very clear that my vengeance would be something to rival that of my father's.”

  “Your father's,” finally, this was the moment I should have had with him already. “Tell me about him, what do you mean by that?”

  “Oh, this is a long story,” Azrael stood up and held out a hand to me. “Perhaps some wine?”

  “Sure,” I let him lead me down the hall to the living room and took a seat while he poured us a couple glasses of holy wine. Hey, he had a river of it literally in his front yard, might as well make use of it.

  “Here you are,” he gave me a glass and took a seat beside me on the Victorian couch. “Now, are you sure you want to hear all of my family issues?”

  “Of course I do,” I huffed. “I feel like an asshole for not asking about this before.”

  “No,” he slid his leg up on the couch so he could angle himself to face me, looking a little like a millionaire playboy... except for the wings hanging over the back of the couch. “Don't feel badly. When we talk, we end up on tangents half the time and we just never followed one toward family. It's okay, my story isn't a happy one.”

  “I didn't ask for a happy story,” I turned sideways and rested my cheek against the wood carvings that bordered the top of the couch. “I asked for your story.”

  “Alright,” he sighed. “Once upon a time there were three friends.”

  “Oh, nice touch, playing to my fey nature,” I grinned. The fey loved stories and the words once upon a time practically made them sit up and salivate.

  “I aim to please,” he shrugged and smiled. “So the three friends were very close, two men and a woman.”

  “Oh, that's not going to end well.”

  “Vervain,” he admonished.

  “Sorry, please continue.”

  “So as I was saying,” he shook his head. “Both of the men loved the woman very much.”

  “See, I told you,” I couldn't help myself. “Love triangle. Was one guy a werewolf and one a vampire?”

  “Vervain!”

  “Sorry.”

  “Thank you.” He rolled his eyes. “The woman married one of them but her husband soon became neglectful. His religious following was growing and people were giving him large amounts of energy. He started to focus more on this than his wife.”

  “Are you taking about the Christian God?”

  “Yes, Carus.”

  “What's his name anyway? It's hard to have to define him as the Christian God all the time.”

  “His name is Jerry, now-” Azrael started to continue but I cut him off.

  “What? God's name is Jerry?” I gasped. “Jerry! Are you kidding me? You're messing with me, right? This is a joke.”

  “No, it's short for Jehova.”

  “How is Jerry short for Jehova?” This was better than the time I'd met my first werewolf and found out his name was Kenny. I killed him, had to be done. Someone always kills Kenny.

  “It just is,” Azrael sighed. “See, this is how we get side tracked.”

  “I apologize,” I tried to look properly chastised. “So was the other man your father?”

  “Yes, exactly,” Azrael nodded approvingly.

  “Who was the woman?”

  “Her name was Holly,” he smiled.

  “Holly? Holly like Holly Hobbie? I loved her when I was little.”

  “No, Holly as in the Holy Ghost.”

  “The Holy Ghost is a woman?” I felt my mouth drop open. “What the Hell? Damn it, I would have asked you about your family a long time ago if I knew it would be this interesting.”

  “Yes, it's strange,” he laughed. “But she's my mother.”

  “The Holy Ghost is a woman and your mother?” I huffed. “That's freaking awesome.”

  “Not so much,” he grimaced. “Mom had an affair with Dad and then Jerry found out because, well, because of me. I was born and Jerry had a fit. I look exactly like my father.”

  “Really?” I looked over his beautiful face. “I've always wondered if more angels had your eyes.”

  “Nope, just me and Dad,” he shrugged. “That's why they called him the Morning Star.”

  “Ahhh, nice,” I nodded. “Starry eyed angels. So what happened then?”

  “Then Jerry got a bunch of his friends to go with him to beat up Dad,” Azrael tipped his head as if considering the intelligence of Jerry's actions. “They showed up at Dad's place but before they could do anything, Dad starts accusing Jerry of neglecting his wife.”

  “Ha!” I stabbed my into the air. “Satan means accuser.”

  “And seducer,” Az waggled his brows at me. “Yes, very observant, that's where the name stemmed from. Now Mom has always been well admired, she had several supporters among the angels Jerry brought with him. When Dad started listing Jerry's faults, a lot of angels switched sides.”

  “No way,” god gossip was the best.

  “Yeah,” Az grinned. “No one liked the idea that Holly was being mistreated.”

  “Why didn't your Mom just leave Jerry?”

  “They'd gone through the Blood to Heart ritual and separating yourself from someone after that is difficu
lt.”

  “Yeah, I remember,” Thor had given me Blood to Mouth, a lesser version of Blood to Heart, meant to grant me his protection. It also came with a link that he could use to speak directly into my mind. It made breaking up with him difficult, so difficult that I couldn't even imagine how hard it might be with a greater bond.

  “So the angels fought and it was bad,” Azrael looked grim. “There's a reason why the war in Heaven made such a big impact on the religion. A lot of angels died and then finally, Dad called a halt to it. He gave up, withdrawing from Heaven and creating his own territory. It shocked the Angelic Host and several more changed sides and went with Dad because they didn't agree with the way Jerry had handled things.”

  “How so?”

  “He gloated, for one,” Azrael made a sour face. “As if he'd truly won by might of arms. He used it to increase his propaganda with the humans and elevate himself while he simultaneously made Dad into a villain. But his worst offense was not wanting to stop the war, even when Dad called for a truce. Dad had to surrender and withdraw, Jerry wouldn't accept anything less. He didn't care how many angels died.”

  “Damn, I just thought he was a wino,” I tried for some levity.

  “If gods could get drunk, he would be,” Az shook his head. “On top of all of that, he made my mother a part of the arrangement. She had to give him a son, just like she'd done for Dad, or he'd continue the war regardless.”

  “Wait... Jesus?”

  “Of course.”

  “So you're Jesus' half-brother.”

  “That's right,” he nodded. “We weren't raised together though, for obvious reasons. Mom did get Jerry to agree that she could visit me if she gave him his son. So at least I was able to know my mother a little.”

  “That's horribly depressing.”

  “I told you it wasn't a happy story.”

  “Your Dad really got the short end of the stick.”

  “Where Mom is concerned, yes,” Azrael shrugged, “but actually, Dad ended up being way more powerful than Jerry. I think it's one of the reasons Jerry drinks so much.”

  “Wait, what?” Christianity was huge, I couldn't understand how Lucifer could have more power than God, I mean Jerry.