Darkness Unbound (Dark Angels 1)

I shook my head. “I didn’t tell her Hanna’s soul had been stolen. I told her she’d moved on peacefully.”

That seemed to surprise him, though again, his expression didn’t change. It was something I felt rather than saw. “Why would you lie?”

“Because the truth would only cause her more pain. Losing a child is enough to cope with.”

“But it is the truth. That is always the correct choice, whether painful or not.”

I smiled at the simplicity of such a statement. “It would be nice if things were that straightforward, but in this world, they rarely are.”

“Hence the need for the dark path.”

“So all of us liars go to hell?”

Again the ghost of a smile touched his lips. “To repeat your own words, it would be nice if things were that straightforward.”

“It’s just as well that they’re not. Otherwise, hell would be one crowded place.”

“The way this world of yours works, it certainly would.” He pushed back his chair and rose, drawing my gaze up his long, magnificent length. “If by chance you are contacted by your father when I’m not on watch, will you contact me?”

“And how am I supposed to do that? I’m presuming reapers don’t carry cell phones around.”

“That would hardly be practical when we are not often of this world or flesh.”

A smile touched my lips. Again he didn’t seem to get the sarcasm, but I guess a being that was more energy than flesh—and who spent most of his time walking the twilight realm—didn’t have much call or experience with emotion of any kind.

“Then how am I supposed to contact you?”

“Simply call my name. I have been tuned to your Chi, and will hear your summons.”

So not only did I have a reaper following me about, but he’d been tuned to my Chi. Or life energy, as Ilianna preferred to call it. This day was going from bad to worse.

“And your name is …?”

“Azriel.”

I snorted softly. “Even I know that Azriel is the generic name all reapers go by.”

“It may be generic, but when you say it, you will be summoning me.”

“Because you’ve been tuned to me?”

“Yes.”

Great. Not. “Do you have another name?”

He hesitated. “Yes, but that is private. No guide or Mijai will ever tell you his true name.”

“Why?”

“Because names are things of power, and to give one freely would be placing yourself in another’s control.”

“So why even give yourselves a true name?”

“Having a family in which all are called Azriel would get a little confusing.”

Meaning reapers had family units? Interesting, given that the Aedh didn’t. “So where are you off to now, Azriel, if you’ve been assigned to follow me?”

“I will retreat to a viewing distance. It would be better for us both.”