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  “Man that was strange,” Sariel echoed Wila’s sentiment. He was walking in a small circle.

  In his haste to get some distance between him and the girl Lucius had opened the wrong door. Instead of the bathroom he’d led them into a utility closet. The smell of cleaning products and moldy mop water was eye watering.

  Lucius was bent over at the waist with his hands on his thighs and his head down. He looked like a man trying not to pass out. How could she not know how powerful she was? Lucius felt like a dump truck had been parked on his chest. Knowing they had to move or risk losing her, Lucius straightened and actually shook his body in a vain attempt to clear it of the residual effect of meeting the Queen Mother. He looked at Sariel who motioned with his head for Lucius to lead the way.

  Sariel didn’t ask any questions when Lucius held out his hand for the keys. He threw them and the angel caught them without even looking. The car he’d borrowed from the kid was parked on the side of the store. Sariel still hadn’t gotten the whole story, all he knew was that it took about fifteen minutes for Lucius to catch up with him and they both had followed the women to the diner. The two had sat mostly in silence as the two ate their lunch and they went into the store for sodas when they saw the two exited the restaurant. Neither angel had expected to meet the Queen.

  They had to be careful now. Sariel couldn’t risk Azriel looking at Lucius any closer than he already was. It was the just the two of them. Sariel went through a list of angels he could trust. The Queen would need protection now that she was found and contrary to Lucius belief of the words spoken thousand years ago by a child, he was not going to be able to do it alone, at least not without the restoring of his angelic powers. If Azriel found out it would end bad—as in—everyone dead bad.

  “I think you should leave as soon as possible,” Lucius said, reading Sariel’s mind.

  “Do you have anyone you can trust?” He was white knuckling the steering wheel; trying to stay at least three cars behind the Jeep.

  It was hard. Every fiber of his being wanted to not only catch up with the car, but to stop it and either get in or put the Queen in his own car. Lucius gritted his teeth as the car rounded a curve and was out of sight for more than five seconds. The woman had a bit of a lead foot. Did she not know she was carrying the most important person in their known universe?

  “A few,” Sariel said bracing himself as Lucius slammed on the breaks. The traffic had come to a crawl after the curve in the road that Lucius had taken way too fast when he’d lost sight of the Jeep. “Want to talk about it?” he asked.

  “No.”

  Sariel didn’t say much else as they followed behind the Jeep. He’d seen the reaction that the Queen Mother and Lucius had with each other. When they’d touched Sariel thought his wings would become visible, cementing further his idea that she could give Lucius his back. Sariel was an Archangel but Lucius was a Power or Authority; a warrior angel, and before he was bound the only heavenly angel more powerful was a Seraphim. Both had taken the vow to protect the line but it had been Lucius that found it after two thousand years of searching. It had been Lucius that allowed the girl to leave. Sariel had wondered if he would have done the same. They had no way of knowing how Azriel would react. Watching Lucius as his wings were tied in light that looked like golden rope before he was thrown from the heavens had started a change in Sariel, in some of the others as well. It was then that he’d begin to think that Azriel had not shared with the angels the real reason behind the search for the Mothers.

  The women they followed didn’t stop again until they came to a hotel and by then it was twilight. Lucius circled the small parking lot and they both looked at the women as they entered the lobby area. Wila looked back at their passing SUV but the tint was dark enough to ensure she didn’t see them. They waited until the women came back out and got their luggage before going in. Lucius insisted on getting the room right next to the Queen. It was dangerous, being so close, but Sariel didn’t trust Lucius not to do something stupid if he didn’t agree. Sariel followed the two to dinner and then called Lucius when they were on their way back upstairs. He was leaving the surface but would send help. It would be tricky for Lucius to follow the women without his ability to become invisible.

  Lucius was too wired to lie down. It wasn’t just the fact that only sheetrock separated them. He could feel her power. The constant hum of the magnificent power called to him. He wanted to go to her. He had never felt this way before, not even with the first Ife and it was a little unnerving.

  Lucius walked around the room. The room had double queen size beds and all the furnishings were dark imitation cherry wood. The big cabinet that the TV set on was had a hidden compartment that held a mini-fridge and microwave. In one corner was a small round table with two chairs and a room service menu on it. Next to it was a small chase lounge and opposite that, a desk and rolling chair for the traveling business person. It wasn’t too bad a set up. The bathroom was hotel standard, with a long countertop with an inset sink and inlaid facial tissue holder and the large handicapped toilet. The bathtub had handrails and a white a shower curtain. Lucius walked back into the room and sat down on the fluffy white comforter.

  He could hear them moving around but they were silent. He’d half expected them to talk about the encounter at the store but all he could hear were two people preparing to for the night. Two hours later the women in the adjoining room were asleep and Lucius was still sitting ram-rod straight on the bed closest to the divider door. The knock at the door startled him.

  “I am Maalik.”

  He was young for an angel, probably among the last created. He was also tall, seven feet, if he was an inch. Lucius didn’t recognize him and he tried to relax. Having someone so powerful that close to the Queen made his muscles tight.

  “I’m Lucius.” He stepped back to allow Maalik to pass into the room.

  Lucius could be quiet when he moved, Maalik was silent. Another perk of being an angel. He didn’t look around the room, he turned once inside and started talking a the clipped, stiff dialogue that told Lucius the angel had spent very little time on the surface.

  “I am to help you in any way I can. I will pass any communication between you and the angel Sariel.”

  Lucius closed the door and walked passed Maalik and stood next to the bed he’d just been sitting on. Maalik spoke like an angel but he was dressed like any other young adult male in blue jeans and a plain green t-shirt. His hair blond hair looked like spun gold and hung just past his shoulders. He was thin but no human man would mistake him as weak.

  At some point he must have dozed off, because he was being shaken awake by Maalik. Lucius stood up and stopped mid-stretched. Unable to keep the menace out of his voice, even though he knew he was being ridiculous, he asked, “Did you go into their room?”

  “You did not instruct me to watch over their physical bodies.” Maalik answered.

  Even if Maalik had gone to the other room he would have only been doing his job. If Lucius had been able to go to her he would have stood by her side every moment of every day. It owed the angel an apology. He brushed his teeth taking out his frustrations of being bound with each stab of the toothbrush.

  An hour later Lucius and Maalik were five cars behind the Jeep. As they drove, Lucius filled Maalik in on everything. He had to at least attempt to have some type of working relationship with him if they are going to be a team. They drove twenty minutes before the Jeep turned off the freeway into a small town. Sariel had left the cell phone in the car, so Maalik and Lucius had a way to communicate. It was agreed that Maalik would follow the two women since he could do so unnoticed and report back. Lucius knew he would eventually have to find a way to become a part of the two women’s lives. He could not continue to lurk in the shadows as if he didn’t belong there – belong to her.

  “The older woman is the guardian of the younger one, who is the Queen Mother,” Maalik said, suddenly sitting at Lucius side.
/>   Sariel seemed to be the only angel who knocked. Lucius was going to have to have a talk about angel etiquette when his heart stopped working double time

  Maalik continued, “The Mothers were separated shortly after her birth. The Queen has just recently been told who and what she is. They are trying to find the rest of the Mothers.”

  “Wait…stop. Are you telling me that the Mothers are sisters?”

  Had he known that? Was this a part of the foretelling that he had forgotten somewhere along the way while looking for the Queen. Did it even matter? Lucius sat with his head down, concentrating while the younger angel waited. Azriel had banned the telling of the prophecy. Lucius ran his hand through his hair in frustration. Why were they separated? What had happened? He took a deep breath and looked at Maalik signaling him to continue.

  “They have not had much luck this morning. No one remember their families. They were given information from a couple about an older lady. She is the town’s unofficial historian. They are planning on going to her tomorrow.”

  “Get word to Sariel and ask him to come back as soon as possible.”

  Lucius watched the two come out of the diner. Ruth was not an angel but there was a warrior in her, a fierceness about her that would give many pause. She was just as much a guardian as the angels that had sworn to protect the line. He watched as the tall elegant woman scanned the area as they made their way to the car. Her purse was one that hung across her body, to keep her hands free. Lucius wondered if she was a skilled fighter. Lucius started the car and followed the two back to the hotel.

  Chapter 4: Amara