“Yes, miss... I mean, goddess.” The soldier stumbled on his words.
The smile she flashed him lit up her face like the beacon from a lighthouse Lucifer had once seen on a maritime planet. And all that light was for the soldier.
A sharp pain pierced Lucifer’s chest, followed by an unwelcome urge to yank the man away from Diana by the scruff of his neck.
Then her eyes narrowed, and her nose scrunched up. “How many of these portals are here... in this liminality?”
Aquifas piped up, “No one knows exactly, but we believe there are at least two hundred.”
“Oh, gracious! The predator may be using any of these portals and can just as quickly vanish into another world. How are we ever going to investigate all of them?”
The way she bit her lower lip distracted Lucifer from his annoyance with the red-headed angel.
“Do you have anything that was left behind at the scenes or something belonging to one of the victims?” She paced in a small circle, now biting her nails. “I could scry to follow the trail, but the object would need to be something either highly personal to the victim or the culprit.”
“I don’t believe that would work.” Aquifas interjected without the slightest hint of emotion.
“And why not?” Diana stopped her pacing and placed her fisted hands on her hips.
The general had the good sense to break eye contact with her and lower his head. “Goddess, I’m afraid that angels do not carry personal items with them... We simply do not have or own anything except our armor. Even our swords are not our own, unless one is an archangel.”
Diana’s mouth fell open. “Well,” she began, “not anything? An item of clothing? Picture of a loved one? Lucky rabbit’s foot?”
When Aquifas shook his head, Diana clamped a hand over her lips. Her gaze cut to Lucifer, begging him to contradict what she must consider an absurd statement. All he could do was shrug.
It was true. Angels did not own anything. They weren’t sentimental, nor kept souvenirs. They were first and foremost servants of the Creator. Thus, making them servants of all his creations.
Puck’s rough voice scraped nails across Lucifer’s spine. “That’s the saddest thing I’ve ever heard. What a waste to be an angel!”
Lucifer’s ire was beginning to rise again. Before he snapped at his men, Aquifas, or Diana’s creepy companion, he stalked to the front of their party. “It is what it is. No use fretting over something that has not bothered one angel over the course of existence. We should be on our way.” He pivoted and marched forward, expecting everyone to follow.
His ears picked up one stray comment from the red-haired angel—oh, why couldn’t he remember his name?—to no one in particular. “Well, one time I kept a river rock from Argantugan. It was bright orange and when held up to the light of the sun it burned like fire. But I lost it at some point. Never seen something so beautiful.”
WHAT IN THE NAME OF the Fates was wrong with these angels? No personal effects? No connections to anyone, it seemed. What a sad and lonesome existence... Why would the Creator not wish his children to enjoy the fruits of the universe when they guarded it so diligently at all times?
It was all quite sad. And explained a lot. No wonder Lucifer didn’t know how to loosen up and have a little fun.
Diana made a mental note to question Lucifer why they didn’t just step through a liminality portal to get here instead of flying through space. It seemed to her that would’ve been the safest course. No flaming balls of light to crash into them. No black holes to suck them out to the edge of oblivion.
At least the rest of the trek through the forest was a touch livelier. She had someone to talk to and the angel squad had stopped marching in formation and instead conversed among themselves.
All except for Lucifer and Aquifas.
Balfour—for that was the name of her new red-headed angel friend—seemed pleasant enough and curious about a lot of things outside his small world of being a soldier for Heaven. For having traveled the universe more than a few times, he knew very little. He wanted to know all about Mount Olympus and if all the rumors about the gods’ decadent behavior were true.
Puck even warmed up to him, sharing outrageous tales of Zeus’s exploits. Well, outrageous but still true stories. Seeing the incredulous look on his face made Diana question if she should be embarrassed by her father’s behavior. It’d never occurred to her before.
“And once the king of the gods transformed into the perfect likeness of a great king on... oh, I forget the name of the planet... isn’t important... while the king was away fighting. He burst into the queen’s bed chamber and made love to her for hours until the king returned, catching his wife in the act. Well, unfortunate thing hadn’t known it wasn’t her husband, but he was unforgiving. Zeus just laughed, flying off in the form of a giant eagle. Rumor has it that she had become pregnant with the god’s child, further infuriating her husband who cast them both into a vast ocean.”
“Oh, for pity’s sake, Puck. You’re going to give the angels the impression all the gods are a bunch of degenerate freaks.” Diana smacked his hand.
“We already do.” Lucifer hadn’t even turned around to say the words that pierced her heart with a fiery dagger of resentment.
“At least we’re not self-righteous angels with sticks up our asses.” The words flew past her lips so fast she couldn’t stop them.
Everyone, even the uptight Aquifas, chuckled... all except Lucifer, whose frown could not deepen any further.
“Whatever happened to the poor queen and the baby?” Balfour inquired, his face filled with concern. “Did the great Zeus intervene on their behalf.”
