The Watcher Chronicles: Oblivion Part 9

I shake my head. "No, it was meant to happen. If I hadn't followed you through, I wouldn't have found Leah."

"She's one of you?" Faison asks. "An archangel?"

I nod. "Yes, she's the fourth. She's been stranded in that other reality since before she was born."

"Then maybe it wasn't for nothing."

"What wasn't for nothing?"

"John Austin's death here on our Earth," Faison answers. "If he hadn't died, I never would have wanted to leave here and you would have never found her. It means his death wasn't meaningless."

I'm glad Faison sees it that way but I still have a bone to pick with G.o.d about it.

I see Faison look off down the street towards Mama Lynn's house.

"I should go talk to her," Faison says. "I never should have blamed her for his death. It wasn't her fault. It was just his time to go."

"Do you want me to go over there with you?" I ask.

Faison shakes her head. "No. I need to do it alone."

Faison gives me a fiercely tight hug. "Thanks for coming for me."

I hug her back just as tight. "I fight for my family, even if they don't want me to."

I hear Faison sniff. "I did. I just didn't know it at the time."

I watch as Faison walks down the sidewalk towards Mama Lynn's house.

"Is she ok?" Mason asks me coming to stand by my side.

"She will be. She just needs some time." I turn to Mason and give him my best doe-eyed look. Hey, it's worked for Faison all these years. Why not me? "Could you do me a favor?"

Mason smiles down at me, obviously amused by my attempt at cajoling a favor out of him with my womanly wiles.

"You know I would do anything you asked," he tells me.

"Could you phase over to Beau's store and grab us some cinnamon rolls for breakfast?"

Mason leans down and kisses me. "Be right back."

When I look back at where Leah, Chandler and JoJo are chatting, I notice Remy standing conspicuously off to the side of the group. He has a melancholy look on his face and I see him wipe away tears from the corners of his eyes.

I walk over to him.

"Are you ok?" I ask Remy.

"I'm just happy to see her back where she belongs," he answers, sniffling. He wipes his nose on his coat sleeve and looks back over at me. "I'll need to leave now, you know."

I nod. "I figured as much."

"I don't want to tell her," he says. "I'm the only person she's had to count on her whole entire life. I hope she doesn't think I'm abandoning her too."

"I think she already knows you have to leave," I tell him, hoping the information will ease his guilt. "She asked me who she would be living with when we came here. She's smart. I think she realizes you can't stay with her forever."

"Who will be taking care of her? You?"

"We all will but I think she would be in better hands if she lived with my mother."

"Could I meet her before I go?"

"When do you think you will need to leave?"

"Soon," a familiar voice says behind me.

I turn to see my dad. I can't help but smile.

He walks up to me and gives me a hug.

"Hey, Jessi."

"Hey, Daddy."

"Of course," Remy says, realization finally dawning. "I should have known you were Zeruel's daughter. I knew there was something different about you."

My dad holds his hand out to Remy.

"Good to see you again, Remiel. The six of us wondered what happened to you. We just a.s.sumed G.o.d sent you on a special mission we weren't supposed to know about."

"Special mission," Remy says, chuckling softly. "I guess that's a better way of putting it than saying we were stranded in an alternate reality with no way to get home."

"So I was told," my dad says. "I'm here to take you back with me when you're ready."

"I need to do a couple of things first," Remy tells my dad, looking over at Leah. "I can't leave her just yet."

"Take your time. I know how hard it is to leave them."

My dad puts his arm around my shoulders instantly letting me know that leaving me was one of the hardest things he ever had to do.

I hear the squeak of a rocking chair come from my front porch. No one seems to notice Lucifer's arrival except for me.

"Daddy, would you mind phasing everyone inside?" I ask, keeping my eyes on Lucifer as he studies the people standing on my front lawn.

My father follows my gaze and realizes why I've made such a request.

Without saying another word, he and Remy walk over to my group of friends and phase them inside my home and out from under Lucifer's intense scrutiny.

I walk up to the porch.

"I was waiting for your return," Lucifer tells me. "I wanted to make sure you got back in one piece. I've heard wormhole travel can be a bit painful."

"That's the understatement of the year," I tell him.

"So how was your trip? Successful, I hope, for your sake."

"Yes, I have my sister back."

Lucifer just stares at me.

"Was there something else you wanted to ask me?" I question, knowing what's coming.

"Why were two Guardians from the Treasury of Souls just standing on your lawn? Who are they to you?"

I contemplate how to answer the question. I could just tell the devil to mind his own d.a.m.n business, but would that gain me anything besides antagonism? I mentally run through all of my options and decide on one. Is it the smartest option? Only time will tell me that, but it's what my heart says I should do and I always follow my heart.

"One of them is my father."

Lucifer stops rocking. He looks completely floored. I get the feeling it's not because of what I said. I think he's surprised by my willingness to share such important information with him. It's something a friend would do, not an enemy.

"Which one: Zeruel or Remiel?"

"Zeruel."

"Why would you call him your father?"

"Because when he made my soul he infused it with part of his own."

Lucifer narrows his eyes at me. "Why are you sharing this information so freely with me? You've never been very forthcoming before. Why now?"

"Maybe I'm just getting tired of playing games with you. You and I keep going back and forth but neither of us seems to be getting anywhere with it. And in the long run, maybe it doesn't matter what you know about me. I have a feeling when you learn the complete truth you'll just end up wanting to kill me anyway."

"I have no desire to kill you," Lucifer says, his face completely serious. "I've come to enjoy these little conversations of ours. Sadly enough, you're the closest thing I have to a friend on this planet."

I have no idea if Lucifer is trying to play on my sympathies, but I get the strange feeling he's telling me the truth.

"Why would you say I would want to kill you after I find out the truth about you?" He asks. "You say it with such certainty."

"I met your doppelganger while I was away."

"Did you now?" Lucifer grins. "Was he as devastatingly handsome as me?"

"Exactly."

"And what did he do to make you think I would want you dead after I learn the truth of what you are?"

"He tried to kill me."

Lucifer looks amused. "Did he now? That's interesting. Do you mind me asking how you got away unscathed? Usually if I want someone dead, they're dead. Yet, here you are, still alive. How?"

"I think I've over shared enough for one day, don't you?"

"One more question, if you don't mind," Lucifer says, leaning forward in his chair. "Those three humans I just saw. Who are they?"

"My friends."

"What kind of friends? There's something about them that's different, like you're different, but I can't quite put my finger on what it is I'm sensing from them either."

"Like I said, I've over shared enough with you for one day. They're my friends. That's all you need to know."

Lucifer leans back in the chair and continues to rock.

"By the way," he says, "I've been meaning to ask why you're pretending to be that boy's girlfriend."

"I'm doing him a favor."

"Doesn't that bother you, Mason?" Lucifer says looking past the porch rail to the sidewalk behind me.

I instinctively turn and see Mason holding a white cardboard box from Beau's store in his hands.

"The boy knows his place," Mason answers, walking up the steps to stand beside me on the porch.

"What, inside your girlfriend's mouth?" Lucifer laughs. "I saw the pictures of the two of you. It didn't look much like pretend to me from what I saw."

"Chandler made a mistake," I say. "He apologized afterward. He simply mistook friends.h.i.+p love for romantic love. He's human. It happens."

"Still, I'm surprised Mason didn't throw him through a wall or something worse."

"The thought did cross my mind," Mason admits. "But it wouldn't have made Jess happy and her happiness is all I care about."

"She certainly has you wrapped around her finger."

"Maybe you should try looking in a mirror one day," Mason tells him.

Lucifer smiles grimly. "I suppose you'll want to go and share those delectable pastries with your friends inside."

I take the box from Mason's hands and open it, allowing the sweet scent of freshly baked sugar and cinnamon to permeate the air around us. I hold the box out to Lucifer.

"Would you like one?"

Lucifer looks surprised by my gesture. I get the feeling he isn't used to being included into things like sharing a meal. He hesitates but finally succ.u.mbs to the call of the cinnamon roll and picks one out of the box.

"Thank you," he says frowning, like the words are foreign on his tongue.

"You're welcome," I tell him, unable to suppress a smile because it's the first time I've seen Lucifer act civil.

"I should be going now," Lucifer says abruptly. "I will see you again soon."

"Ok."