Winged Destiny (Archangels)

Chapter 1

Zeke Masterson

Moving back in my chair, I was no longer certain I’d been lucky scoring a table outside my favorite coffee shop.

The wooden seat was mildly uncomfortable, and the yellow paint, meant to withstand the elements, was slick, which caused me to constantly slide forward.

Ignoring the poor choice of furniture, I fixed my gaze on my client.

Tessa was middle-aged, pretty, and dressed like a business executive.

Her confident attire contrasted with her trembling hands and soft voice.

If I didn’t have enhanced hearing, I’d have barely heard her above the hum of the busy city street.

“I just . . . I can’t seem to shake this feeling, Mr. Masterson,” she said, her brow knitted in worry. “It’s like shadows are following me.”

When I accepted the meeting, I knew this would be another of those “unexplained events” kind of a job.

I wasn’t sure when I acquired the reputation as the go-to private detective for weird and unusual occurrences, but those made up the majority of my referrals lately.

My big sister Brenda said it was because I had the powers to solve their cases.

She wasn’t wrong, but I’d also used my angel powers to help with regular problems. I preferred those cases. They were easier to solve. This one, fortunately, had a simple explanation; she just didn’t want to accept the truth.

“I did some more checking, and what you’re experiencing isn’t supernatural. Your ex-husband hired a creepy private detective to tail you. He put a tracker on your car.” I set the device on the table and let her soak in what I’d said.

The device had the jerk’s imprint all over it, and two minutes after I arrived, I picked him out of the crowd. He and I would be having a long talk once Tessa and I were finished.

“What?” She reached for the tracker, then pulled her hand away before touching it. “Why would he do that? The divorce is finalized already.”

Theirs had been a contentious divorce. Tessa made way more than the douche canoe husband, but since she got full custody of the kids, he was still ordered to pay child support.

“If I had to guess, he’s hoping to find some reason to reduce his monthly payments.

Don’t worry. I’m going to make sure they stop following you. ”

“That sounds dangerous,” she said.

It wasn’t clear who she thought was in danger. I could’ve read her mind, but it didn’t matter. “I do this sort of thing all the time. Everything will be fine.”

“What should I do now?”

Noting she sounded more upset than ever, I didn’t tell her the creep was across the street recording us.

In a few minutes, his phone was going to mysteriously stop working and then catch fire.

I’d even tossed in a nasty virus to erase everything he stored on the cloud.

None of his work would make it to his client.

“I’m going to go in a minute and take the tracker with me. Wait five minutes, then leave. It will confuse him that you and your tracker aren’t moving in the same direction. I’ll confront him before he can decide what to do and make sure he and your ex leave you alone.”

“But what if he hires someone else?”

This was the part I hated most about accepting domestic cases. The fear was real, but I couldn’t tell her I was an angel and could ensure the guy wouldn’t bother her again. “He won’t. Trust me. Give it a couple of days, and if you still feel like you’re being followed, call me back. But you won’t.”

I gave her my most calming smile, which probably didn’t help all that much. I might be a hundred and forty-seven years old, but I barely looked twenty-five.

Discreetly, I covered the tracker with my hands, palmed it, and stood to leave. I pointed inside like I was going to use the restroom. “Remember to wait five minutes. It will let me get in position.”

I made my way to the bathroom, which thankfully was empty. Using the mirror to make sure I got it right, I altered my appearance enough to fool even Tessa. I slipped off my jacket, turned it inside out, and pulled a baseball cap out of the inner pocket.

A minute later, I walked out of the coffee shop, past Tessa, and across the street toward my target. The man was an amateur. He was so focused on Tessa he ignored his surroundings. I wasn’t complaining. It made my job much easier.

I walked to the end of the block and waited. Once I finished convincing him this job wasn’t worth the money, I’d have a talk with the ex. Some jobs were just too easy.

Ididn’t finish with Tessa’s ex until after 3:00 p.m. He was an abusive jerk who was angry Tessa finally left him. Without her big salary, the good life was over. Worse for him, a quarter of his take-home pay went to support his kids.

He hadn’t listened to reason, so I planted a suggestion in his brain that she was dating a cop and had a restraining order against him. It would wear off in a few months, but in the meantime, it’d give her a chance to get settled again.

Northern Virginia had horrible afternoon traffic.

Every time I was stuck, I had the urge to park on the side of the road and release my wings.

I didn’t because the archangels would be furious, and I liked being left alone.

I didn’t have ambitions like my older sister, didn’t make friends with two of the heirs, and I wasn’t summoned to Milan or Atlanta for assignments that lasted years.

It was a matter of time before they called upon me, but the less attention I drew to myself the better.

I gave all my ambitions to Brenda. Just hearing about her new assignment made me anxious.

Parking behind the small building that housed my private investigator’s business, I had the feeling I was being watched. Now I knew how Tessa felt.

I made sure the strap on my gun was unsnapped before I got out of the car. The area around me was empty, no one was on the rooftops, and the few windows facing the courtyard were shut. Unlike Tessa, however, I wasn’t imagining things.

Exhaling, I extended my senses. Seven people were inside the buildings, five were engaged in mundane tasks, one was asleep, and the seventh was . . . the seventh was watching me.

“Very good, Ezekiel,” Michael’s voice said inside my head. “I’m impressed you sensed me as quickly as you did. I’m in your office waiting for you.”

As nice as it was to get praise from the archangel Michael, having the leader of our kind sitting inside my office was unnerving. Locks were meant to keep people out and not let them snoop about your stuff.

My annoyance distracted me from the more pressing issue. Why was Michael here in Alexandria, Virginia? He rarely left Milan anymore.

So much for being left alone.

There was no point avoiding the meeting. If it was important enough for Michael to pay me a visit, we were going to talk no matter what I wanted.

The door was still locked and the alarm still active when I entered my building. I dreamed of having that kind of skill one day.

“Right. Keep living that fantasy,” I told myself.

I entered my office and expected Michael would be behind my desk, snooping through my files. Instead, he was seated on my leather couch, drinking coffee from a paper cup. Of course he wouldn’t snoop himself. He had others to do the grunt work.

He hadn’t changed since I’d last seen him. Tall, lean, with his black hair pulled back in a ponytail, he was one of the most beautiful beings I’d ever seen. Michael radiated power, and commanded respect just by coming into your presence.

“Michael.” I tried to sound friendly, but I was too nervous to pull it off. “If I’d known you were coming, I wouldn’t have made you wait.”

“If I wanted you to know I was coming, I’d have told you.” He said it with a hint of mirth, but it came off condescending.

I’d only met him once, for all of five minutes, when I finally gained my full powers. He and the other archangels summoned me to assess my power. In the hundred years since, Michael had mostly left me alone, and I’d enjoyed my freedom.

“Can I get you something?” I didn’t have a lot in the office, but I could get Uber Eats to deliver.

“No, but thank you for your good manners.” This time, he sounded sincere.

Michael didn’t have the reputation of being warm and fuzzy. None of the archangels were, but everyone liked Gabriel. The word was the best you could do was stay on Michael’s good side and avoid being the subject of his temper.

“I know you didn’t come to sit in my class B office, but I don’t want to be out of line. Should I ask why you’re here or would that be rude?”

His lips twitched for a half second. It was the closest I’d ever seen to a smile from him.

“You’re not out of line.” He stood and pointed toward my monitor. “Can you log in for me? I want to show you something.”

The computer my clients saw was for show. Angel tech was far superior to humans, but I couldn’t show them without giving away our secret. I placed my hand on the desktop and the image of a computer screen hovered above my desk.

Michael touched a spot, which set off a swirl of colors and movement until a map appeared. “Three months ago, we detected an energy surge near Austin, Minnesota. What drew our attention to this surge is we haven’t seen that signature since we fled our world for earth.”

I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen. There was only one race that could’ve produced that energy, and they destroyed our home world nearly five thousand years ago. “Drevlin.”

“We weren’t sure at first. The signal was brief and weak. Although we assumed it was Drevlin in nature, it could have been a random convergence of human made energy.” Michael’s fingers moved across the interactive light. “The next three surges confirmed it was their technology.”

The Drevlin were millions of light years away. They would have had to have set out the day our kind escaped and headed here with all speed to reach us by now. “How is this possible?”

“There are a few possibilities, but we think an angel is creating these devices.”