Annabelle wasn’t as happy as usual to walk into her father’s church. She hadn’t spoken to her parents since they had thrown Joey out, but she now had no choice. There were things to discuss.

Being backstage at the megachurch reminded her of her backstage experience the night before, though the luxury her parents had was beyond the tiny, dingy room in which the band had seemed perfectly content. With Robert in discussion with some of his assistants, Annabelle approached her mother, who was looking in the mirror to touch up her makeup.

“Mom,” Annabelle began, unable to hide the lingering animosity, “we need to discuss Joey.”

Sandra stopped and stared at her. “Are you regretting your choice? I knew you would.”

“Not at all. I meant we need to discuss the official custody changes. I want full parental rights, and I want it ASAP.”

“Now is not the time to discuss that. Your father’s lawyers are working on it. The sooner that boy’s name is no longer associated with us, the better. And you better keep him under wraps.”

“Don’t worry. He’s doing wonderfully. Sitting in my apartment peacefully, studying on his own. It’s amazing what not being locked in a room every day does to someone.”

“Studying, is he? Did you find your own tutor for him? You know Mary won’t go out there to keep teaching him. She’s so relieved he’s gone, honestly.”

Annabelle remained silent for a moment. She’d been pondering how to continue his education but had yet to decide what to do. “I don’t suppose Daddy would allow him to complete work remotely so he can still graduate.”

“Most certainly not! He’s already been removed from the class roster, I believe. So if you don’t want him to stay a high school dropout, that’s up to you to figure out. But he will not be associated with your father’s highly respected school.”

Sighing, Annabelle said, “Fine. I also want to arrange to get his furniture. He doesn’t deserve to live on a couch.”

Sandra waved a hand dismissively. “Arrange for movers. We’ll pay to clean out that room. It’ll take years of prayer to get the demon powers out of it though.”

Annabelle could not resist rolling her eyes.

“Quite the sass in you, Annie,” Sandra said, studying her face. “You look tired. That boy is stressing you out, isn’t he. I knew it.”

“No, he is not. As a matter of fact, I’m tired because we went out last night, the two of us. Spent quality time with my nephew. He was perfectly behaved and well-mannered. Made staying out late worth it, honestly.”

“Well, you’ll regret him soon enough. You’re thirty years old, Annabelle. You need to start thinking about your future.”

“I’m perfectly satisfied with my future. I have a great job that’s perfect for me. I don’t need anything else.”

Sandra raised her eyebrows. “Time is ticking. And you can’t expect to settle down and have a family with that boy around.”

Ever since Annabelle had moved out, her mother’s hints at finding a husband had ramped up. And no matter how much she insisted she was still waiting for the right one to come along, and that rushing into marriage just to expand the family was not of interest to her, it never slowed Sandra down.

“You know I can’t bear children, Mom,” Annabelle said. “It’s not like I have to follow a biological clock.”

“The younger you are, the more children you’ll be able to adopt over time.” Sandra patted her daughter’s cheek. “You will be an amazing mother. Now, I think you should spend some time with that young man, Simon. He’s quite handsome, and I’m pretty sure he fancies you. And he comes from a wonderful family.”

Annabelle had to admit that Simon was nice to look at, and he did often try to get her attention. But she had no desire to be courted by him, or to even have more than basic small talk with him. A flash of Jack Harper crossed her mind, though, and she mentally slapped herself. He was most certainly an atheist, and therefore beyond off limits. And she barely knew him. Looks could not be everything.

“Never mind,” she said. “Just have Daddy’s lawyers contact me about Joey. I’m going out there to get my seat.”

In the front row of the auditorium, Annabelle took her usual weekly seat. Her mother would be seated to her right, and to her left would be the empty seat reserved for Miranda. She had always sat there before she had gone, and her parents insisted a seat still be allotted for her to join them all in spirit. Annabelle always put her arm on the arm rest, pretending she was holding her sister’s hand. It had been harder and harder to sit there lately, however, having to listen to her father verbally destroy the only living thing remaining of his lost daughter. But this sermon was the worst of all.

“I learned something this week, my friends,” Robert said. “I learned that even with the power of God, the power that comes from even the deepest connection with our Lord and the strength within our hearts, we can’t always defeat demons on our own. They say it takes a village to raise a child. I say it also takes a village to bring down the demons among us, among our community. We must all put our strength and faith together, to be as one in order to conquer. I implore you all to remember this. Do not be discouraged if God does not seem to give you the power to fight them on your own. We believers in Christ our Lord must come together, and God knows this. Even me, a man who feels God deeper than most, cannot defeat them on my own. I need you, my friends, to come together with me, just as I will come together with you. And we will destroy them.”

For the first time ever she had to stop listening. Though she agreed that everyone should come together in strong faith, the idea of using it to destroy hurt deeper than she imagined. The congregation didn’t know their preacher was talking about his own grandson, but Annabelle did, and that’s all that mattered. And if her father ever called on his followers to harm Joey, she knew there would be no way to stop them no matter how much she begged God for the power to do so.

* * *

Jack’s heart pounded as he passed through the portal that removed his Earth clothes. He had been going over what he would say to Lucifer, trying to come up with the best words to keep him from getting angry. It was likely that even though he felt good about what had happened the previous night, the Dark Lord would likely not agree.

To his surprise he was met by the supreme leader at the end of the hall, standing beside Gaap with a look of intensity on his face. Jack watched both demons look at him, their gazes on his empty hands.

Immediately upon exiting the tunnel, Jack got to his knees.

“Stand up, fool!” Lucifer boomed.

Jack obeyed and forced himself to look up and hide his fear.

“You better have a good reason as to why you don’t have a soul in your hand.”

“Yes, my lord. I do. There is a big problem.”

Lucifer narrowed his eyes. “Those are not words I want to hear.”

“I understand. Unfortunately, it’s true.”

“What is it then? Did he not come to your concert? Did he not contact you again?”

“He did. He did come to our show last night. We had planned to take him then, but he did not come alone.”

“And how is that a problem? Getting rid of a human is your specialty for fuck’s sake!”

“She’s not human, my lord. She’s an angel.” Jack waited for his reaction, assuming Lucifer would explode, claiming he was wrong and would be punished. Instead, his leader simply glared harder.

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“What do you mean ‘an angel’? How do you know this?”

Jack explained Annabelle’s aura, it’s intensity and the power he was certain she had. “I could not be more certain, my lord. We all agreed that it would be too dangerous to attack. Even if we succeeded in getting the cambion, it would do more harm than good.”

Lucifer sighed and closed his eyes. Jack waited patiently in silence, though stole a quick glance at Gaap out of the corner of his eye. The demon was watching with extreme interest, barely moving.

“You are right, Soul Reacher,” Lucifer said at last. “That was the correct choice.”

Jack suppressed a sigh of relief. His biggest worry was behind him.

“But now he has gotten away,” Lucifer continued, disappointment mixing with anger. “All of this time and effort wasted now.”

“Not so, my lord. I came up with a plan to keep him close, to stay connected. I’ve befriended him, and the angel seems okay with me for the most part. She’s supposedly his aunt, and thankfully she gave permission for me to give the boy guitar lessons. He’ll be visiting us regularly. It will buy us time until we have a new plan.”

The anger left Lucifer’s face, now replaced with relief. “Excellent. That is excellent. Good work. Now…” The smile that had grown now faded, seriousness returning. “We need to find out why an angel is with a demon. As anxious as I am to finish this job and move on to Buriel, we need more information before we can decide what to do. You will question the boy as best you can about the angel. If you can find a way to gain her trust more, even better, but it is crucial that they not learn of who you are, though that should be obvious to you. It is unlikely she can tell you four are demons unless you show her your powers. But, if you are able to get her separated from the boy long enough to take him, do it. If you do, you will need to be quick. If she’s a guardian angel as I suspect, she will know something is wrong even if she isn’t there, and will come to you no matter where you are. But that is why you need to gather information as quickly as possible. Understood?”

“Yes, my lord.”

“Very good. We will continue our weekly briefings for now. Go.”

Jack bowed and went back through the tunnel. The seal took him back to the living room of the house where his three companions were waiting.

“We’re good,” he told them, relief filling the room. He explained Lucifer’s demand for information before attacking unless an opportunity arises. “If we’re lucky, she’ll leave him here alone with us for the lessons. We’ll question him, then do what we need to do.”

The following day, Jack received his first text message from Annabelle, suggesting lessons on Tuesdays and Fridays. He agreed, and for the next twenty-four hours, the four demons paced the house, discussing what to ask and how to best make their attack.

“It would be ideal to find out where she’ll go while the boy is here,” Dorian said. “That way we know how much time we have to get his soul and bail. I have a feeling it won’t be as easy as a human, even though his human form is likely weaker than us. We don’t know what sort of powers he has.”

“He definitely inherited Buriel’s mind control abilities,” Miles said. “And pretty hardcore considering he made Jack pass out from hundreds of miles away. We’ll need to cover his eyes.”

Jack shook his head. “No, we can’t do that. I can’t connect to his soul without eye contact.”

“Shit.” Dorian sighed. “What if we knock him out? Can you still connect that way?”

“No. I tried once. Remember, Miles? There was a guy we were hunting down, he tripped and hit his head, out cold. You insisted we still get him so we had to hide somewhere until he came to so we could take him.”

“So does that make this kid invincible to us?” Cameron asked. “You try to connect, he takes over your mind, there’s nothing the rest of us can do.”

“I’ll just have to really try to befriend him, gain enough trust that he won’t feel the need to do that. Then be fast. I’ll need your power behind me for sure. All of you.”

When the doorbell rang that Tuesday evening, Jack opened the door to the beaming cambion and the glowing angel. He allowed Joey in, but when Annabelle stepped forward to join him, Jack blocked the way and said, “If you want to just come back in a couple hours, that’s totally fine. Have an evening to yourself. We’ll be fine.”

Annabelle stood tall. “I’d rather be with him, if I may.”

Accepting that their plans were ruined and that he’d have to work on trust with the angel too, he allowed her in. His bandmates, who sat in the living room, clearly struggled to hide their own disappointment at her presence. Jack led their guests down to the basement, and Joey gaped as he entered the studio.

“Wow,” he breathed. “This is amazing.”

Jack walked to the wall where his three guitars hung beside Dorian’s two basses. “Which one would you like to play on? I’ll let you pick.”

With mouth still agape, Joey slowly approached them, admiring them with wide eyes as if he was looking at priceless artifacts. “I really get to play one of yours?”

“Yeah. Any one you want.”

Each of the three guitars were similar in shape, but colors varied from a matte black to a shiny black to a dark purple. Joey pointed at the shiny black one, and Jack removed it from the wall and placed the strap around Joey’s shoulders.

“How does that feel?”

“Awesome.”

Jack took down the purple one, then grabbed two picks from the nearby desk and handed one to the boy before leading him to a stool. He invited Annabelle to take a seat, and she chose Dorian’s comfortable chair at the soundboard. Taking a stool himself, Jack sat facing Joey.

“When you’re sitting, hold the guitar like this.” He positioned the instrument on Joey’s leg, “Relax your picking hand, too. It’s much harder to control a clenched fist like that. Less hand, more wrist, okay?”

Joey nodded.

“I’m going to show you the easiest chord first, E minor. That way you get the feeling of everything before it gets harder.” Jack placed his fingers on the strings, then realized it might be hard for Joey to follow along with his guitar facing the opposite way. However, his student easily found the right spot and attempted the chord, though it was weak.

“Press a little harder. Your fingers will be sore at first while you build calluses, but it’s worth it.” Jack was surprised by his own words. He hadn’t needed to build his own calluses, as his fingertips were already toughened up when he had woken from his torturous ability infusion. Knowledge of needing that must have been part of the procedure.

Joey tried a couple times until the chord was clear, then played it a few more times, the tone strong.

“Nice!” Jack said. “Now I’ll teach you a C chord. If you have trouble matching my fingers, I’ll help you place yours.”

But Joey did not have trouble. The boy looked him in the eye for a second, then placed his fingers in the right place. After a few tries it was as golden as his first chord.

“Now see if you can switch be—”

Joey began switching between the two chords before Jack could finish. He did it slowly at first, then gradually faster. Jack thought about pausing him so they could move on, but there was determination in the boy’s eyes, so he let him continue until he stopped on his own.

“Am I doing okay?” he asked.

“You’re doing awesome. Want to add a third one?”

Joey nodded, meeting his eyes, but before Jack could tell him the next one was a D chord, the boy put his fingers in the right position and played it.

Jack froze and couldn’t help but stare. For a moment he thought perhaps the boy had lied and already knew how to play, but there was only one way he would know which chord he’d wanted to teach next.

When Joey met his eyes again, seemingly for confirmation of his proper playing, a look of embarrassment came over him but he said nothing.

“How did you…what’s that chord called?”

“D,” Joey whispered.

Annabelle, who Jack had almost forgotten about, sighed and put her hand on her face. “Joey…”

“I’m sorry. I can’t help it.”

The kid reads minds. This is really bad. We’re so screwed.

“I’m really sorry!” Joey was looking at him again. “Please don’t be mad. I really can’t help it.”

Annabelle was pinching the bridge of her nose. Jack looked back and forth between the two. She knew about him. This could be no coincidence. The angel had to be with him on purpose.

Joey was scrutinizing him now. “Wait, you know—”

Jack held up a hand, and making sure Annabelle was still looking away, put a finger to his lips to silence him. “Never mind everything. Let’s continue. Just…if you’re gonna read my mind, just stick with the lesson stuff, okay?”

The boy sheepishly agreed, and Jack forced himself to only think about guitar topics, as much as his mind was reeling at the realization that they were completely screwed. But the boy seemed to be a natural, and not because he could read the information from his teacher’s mind, but because he could implement it immediately and perfectly. No doubt another trait inherited from Buriel.

After two hours had passed, Jack decided to call it a night. “Regardless of how you get the information, you’re a natural musician, kid. Making my job really easy.”

Joey grinned, but still blushed with embarrassment. “Thank you. I’m sorry, again.”

“Don’t sweat it, kid.”

When Jack looked at Annabelle before they ascended the stairs, he saw embarrassment and worry on her face. He smiled in an effort to assure her everything was okay, and the purple outline underneath the angelic one became pink. He wanted to read her deeper to find out what that aura meant, but she looked away before he could.

He escorted them to the front door, and once Annabelle was down the front stairs, Jack grabbed Joey by the shoulder and leaned close to his ear. “What you read in my mind today remains between us. Got it?”

The boy seemed to read the urgency in Jack’s mind and nodded.

Once they were gone, Jack collapsed on the couch in front of his friends, leaning forward and gripping his hair. “We are absolutely fucked,” he said.

“Because the angel won’t leave his side?” Miles asked.

“Worse than that. He doesn’t just control minds; he reads them too. He literally read what I was going to teach him directly from my mind. How am I supposed to connect to his soul without him reading my plans to basically kill him?” Kill him. He froze at the thought. Those words were incredibly uncomfortable to say.

“Can’t you just not think about killing him but actually kill him at the same time? Use different words in your head or something?”

Jack shrugged. “No matter what, this is going to take much longer than we thought, and Lucifer is going to be pissed.”

“And we got no information at all, did we,” Dorian said.

“Actually…” Jack sat up and leaned back on the couch. “The angel knows he can read minds. She almost reprimanded him for doing it because it was so obvious. I think she’s with him on purpose. There’s no coincidence.”

“An angel knowingly protecting a demon. Now that’s something I never thought I’d see.”