The element of surprise…
Antonio paced like a caged tiger. Frustration at being sidelined had him on edge. The silence in the house did not help. The familiar tick-tock of the clock, the heartbeat of his father’s home was missing. The blank space on the mantle was a reminder he’d failed to protect Blanca, a woman he hardly knew but who’d become important to him. And he failed to protect the key, of which he’d only just discovered was his responsibility passed down by a mother he never knew and a man who’d taken on the dangerous role of guardian and father out of a misguided sense of honor. He knew there was more to the story of his birth. There had to be. How else would Eugenio Diaz have come into possession of the clock otherwise? But his Pops didn’t mention any of that in his letter and there was no one left to ask. Or was there?
He stopped pacing.
Hector sighed, mumbling, “Thank goodness.”
“Tio, I need to go.”
Hector sat on the couch opposite the easy chair where his old friend Eugenio spent many an afternoon watching old westerns. His head whipped around on his neck to stare at Antonio. “Go where? You can’t go anywhere, ‘Tonio. You heard Gabriel. You’re not ready yet. You’re a danger to others until you learn to control this wolf demon trying to possess you.”
“Gabriel said my emotions trigger it. I’ll just stay calm and be okay, but I can’t sit here and let others put themselves in danger to clean up my mess. That’s not how I was trained, Hector. I’m a Marine, and Marines don’t leave innocents in the hands of the enemy. We go in and save the day.”
Hector sat forward, palms up, begging his nephew to listen. “I understand your frustration, but really, ‘Tonio, how is it not sinking in that four archangels,” he paused, taking a breath, “God’s own warriors, who happen to be as old as time, by the way, and far more trained than yourself, are handling this? Just what is it you think, in your arrogance, you can bring to this fight?”
Antonio’s eyes narrowed, but he held his pique at his uncle’s words in check. “The element of surprise.”
Hector’s mouth opened, then closed. His hands dropped over his knees as the starch went out of his old spine. “Well, I guess I can’t argue with that. You’re stubborn, just like your Pops.” He looked at the younger man. “You’re going to do what you’re going to do no matter what I say, aren’t you?”
Antonio nodded. “Yes, Tio. But not out of arrogance. It’s my mess. I’m duty-bound to clean it up.”
The old man shook his head, conceding defeat. “Okay. But at least let me give you some advice.”
Hands on hips, Antonio waited. “What is it?”
Hector pushed himself off the couch, taking a moment to get his knees steady and his feet going, then walked to Antonio, placing his hands on his nephew’s shoulders. “Whatever you do, don’t look Cinder directly in the eye. That demon has a way of hypnotizing its prey. Also, Del Fuego has a weakness.”
Antonio’s eyebrow quirked, curious. “What’s that?”
“He’s a fire demon, son. How do we put out a fire?”
“With water,” Antonio answered. “Water? Really?” he replied, skeptical.
Hector moved to a side cabinet in the living room. It contained mostly books Antonio’s father had read, but there was a drawer. Hector opened it and pulled out a small blue vial. He turned, handing it over. “Not just any water, of course. It’s Holy water,” he said.
Antonio turned the vial over in his hand. “Pops kept Holy water in the house? I never knew.”
Hector nodded. “He was always prepared. You know, just in case the odd demon or two showed up.”
“But how did he know all this stuff about the key and demons and whatnot? Who told him?”
Hector shrugged. “I told him a lot, but when I arrived here all those years ago, he already knew. I don’t know, son. He never told me, and I never asked.”
“Gabriel said my mother was the guardian, but Pops said in his letter it was already too late to save her by the time he came upon her being mauled by the wolf demon. I assumed that meant she was already dead, but in his letter, he said she begged him to save me. Do you think that’s when she told him about the key?”
“Who knows?”
Determination flashed in Antonio’s blue-green eyes. “One of them knows. You heard Cassiel. When someone dies, one of them is called to escort the soul home. One of them escorted my mother.” He paused, recalling Gabriel saying he’d escorted Isabella Elizabeth Santos to heaven. “Another escorted Pops.”
Hector contemplated this. “You know there are more archangels than those four, right? Michael, Uriel, Azrael, Metatron, Samuel…”
Antonio blew out a frustrated breath. “I get it, Tio, but one of them did and I’m going to find out which one and get some answers.”
A gurgle of laughter erupted from Hector’s lips. “Good luck with that.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Hector returned to the couch, picking up the remote along the way. He turned up the sound on the old tube television and sat down. “It means the only answers you’ll get from any angel are the answers they decide to give.”
The old man flipped the channels finding an old western. Antonio shook his head and left him to his movie. Running up to his room, he changed clothes, choosing a black hoodie sweatshirt, dark jeans, and boots. Pulling his duffel bag out from under his bed, he removed a civilian sidearm and holster. Clipping it to the waistband of his jeans and securing the SIG Sauer within, he pulled his shirt over the top and stuck some extra clips into the pockets of the hoodie. He eyed the small blue vial Hector gave him and then shoved it into the pocket of his jeans. With a few extra items placed strategically on his person, Antonio left the house, heading downtown. It was a thirty-minute walk to the Hilton Hotel on the Riverwalk and there was no more time to waste.
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