Chapter 28

Persephone

Azrael looked like he’d climbed out of a dumpster. Okay, my description wasn’t completely fair. He appeared clean and well-groomed, but his clothing should have been thrown away. No, it should have been burned. Azrael had multiple piercings, and he didn’t look anything like me or my mom. We couldn’t be related. There had to be some sort of mistake.

I decided to speak my thoughts out loud so my mom and Azrael could agree. “We can’t be related. This must be a mistake.”

“We’re related.” Azrael sounded confident, but he seemed uneasy about the situation.

I took comfort in knowing I wasn’t the only one who was nervous. “What makes you think we’re related?” I asked.

“I can sense my blood in both of you,” Azrael explained. “It’s part of why I wanted to meet you. I knew I’d sense the truth immediately.”

“We’ve met,” was my curt response. It annoyed me that he didn’t even remember seeing me before. Granted, we hadn’t technically been introduced, but that didn’t make me any less annoyed that he didn’t remember me.

He shook his head. “I saw you in Lucifer’s kitchen, but we were never introduced. Lucifer thought I might be plotting against him at the time.”

“I wouldn’t have been surprised to find out you were,” Hades muttered from my side.

“If I’d been plotting against Lucifer, I could have done a better job than Michael.” Azrael sounded offended.

“Well, it still proves you didn’t recognize our relationship at first sight,” I argued with my arms crossed in front of my chest. “I’m not convinced you recognize it now.”

“I wasn’t paying much attention to you,” he admitted. “Don’t take it personally. My social skills often leave something to be desired.”

And then the awkward silence happened. We all stood there and waited for someone to speak. My mom was staring at Azrael. She had her database of angels, but Azrael looked much different in her database. He looked much more angelic in the photos she had of him. Of course, her shock at his appearance only accounted for part of her reaction. There was also her strong aversion to angels. I giggled.

Beatrice leaned into my side to ask, “What’s so funny?”

I giggled again. “I’ll tell you later.”

My mom suddenly started laughing. “This is funny! I’ve been telling you to stay away from anyone with angel blood, but we have angel blood.” My mom laughed harder.

“I was thinking the same thing!” I told her.

And then Beatrice laughed.

Hades and Azrael regarded us like we’d lost our minds. I was used to people looking at me that way, so it didn’t bother me. As far as I was concerned, they were the ones who were crazy for failing to appreciate the humor.

Azrael shook his head and mused, “These are my granddaughters.”

“You aren’t going to expect us to call you grandpa, are you?” I asked. “That would be weird.”

“Because I don’t age?” Azrael asked.

My mom was the one who responded to his question. “It’s not that. Persephone’s been around really old witches. Witches age extremely slowly, so it’s not so much your looks.”

“The goth teen look throws me off some,” I admitted.

My mom nodded her agreement. “It is a little jarring, but that’s not it either. It’s just that you’re the angel of death.”

Azrael waited for more of an explanation, but there wasn’t one.

“Maybe, if we’d known you before, it might not seem so strange.” It was the only explanation I could think of. I honestly didn’t think of Azrael as my great-grandfather. How could I when I didn’t know him? That might change, but it seemed unlikely considering how unfriendly he was. “I’m sorry. That probably sounds harsh.”

He shook his head as he responded. “Not harsh at all. You’re just being honest. I have a hard time thinking of you as my granddaughters. I never planned to have children. As a general rule, most angels don’t have children. We certainly don’t start families like some fallen angels do.” His gaze moved to my mom. “I remember your grandmother. You resemble her. She was spirited and curious. I’m not sure what she saw in me, but we had a brief affair before she bonded with a warlock she couldn’t stand.”

My mother smiled. “They grew to love each other, or so I’m told. Both died before I was born.”

Azrael cleared his throat. “While I wanted to meet you, I’m not sure we should get to know each other. Any relationship with me might cause you more problems. You don’t want a bunch of white-winged assholes coming around.”

I had to bite back a laugh since I was certain that Azrael’s wings were also white.

I flashed him a bright smile. “Well, then it was nice meeting you.

Azrael pulled two cards from the pocket of his trench coat. “If either of you needs me, call. Even if we don’t get to know each other, we are family. I’m certain that anyone who tries to hurt you will be slaughtered by Hades before I can get here, but I promise to make sure their soul spends an eternity enduring the most excruciating pain.”

Hades grinned. “I’m beginning to like you, Azrael.”

“Lucky me,” Azrael muttered.

After I took the cards and handed one to my mom, Azrael nodded and left without another word.

Beatrice summed up my impression of Azrael perfectly. “The angel of death wasn’t nearly as much of a dick this time.”