The Night Beat

taken a look. Oh well, my life was all about the complexities. “Thanks. Shouldn’t be too long, no.”
    They hustled out. The moment the door closed Jude pulled me into his arms. I would have resisted but I was in shock. He shook his head. “Not trying to rekindle the passions, though, I confess, if you were willing, I could be easily convinced. I need to protect you.”
    He extended his wings and wrapped them around us. We started to spin, and as we did, he spoke a prayer. It was in ancient Hebrew, but I could pick up a word here and there. The basic “Yahweh protect us from horrible evil” kind of thing is what it seemed like. After what seemed like a long ride on the Spin-Out, Jude stopped praying and we stopped spinning, then he let me go and took a step back.
    “Uh, that was, ah, different.” I didn’t ask why he’d never done that before, like when we were an extremely hot and heavy item.
    “I never did it before because you didn’t need it.”
    “And now I do?”
    “And now you do.”
    “Because of Jack?”
    “Because of what’s to come, some of which will involve Jack, yes.”
    I hugged myself and looked down. “Is he evil?” I tried not to dread the answer and couldn’t.
    Jude put his hand under my chin and moved my face up until I was looking right into his eyes. “No. He’s human. And he no longer wants to be.”
    “Miriam said the same thing. Is…why is that bad?”
    “In and of itself? It’s not.” Jude half-laughed and half-sighed. “It’s almost similar to him wanting to convert to a different religion because it would make him closer to the one he loves.”
    “He really loves me?”
    Jude kissed my forehead. “Yes, he does.”
    “Then I really don’t understand why any of this is bad or puts Jack’s soul in danger.”
    “You will. In time. Sooner than later, I fear.” He walked me to the door. “I can’t leave to help you. If I do, they’ll be able to bring the armies through.”
    “How can you be sure? I mean, they’re getting past us right and left.”
    “My presence here is the main deterrent. And, I’m not quite as alone as it seems.”
    The light dawned. “Oh. He’s here?”
    “Yes. Keeping his usual low profile, but yes.”
    “Does Magdalena know?”
    Jude shook his head. “She needs her energies focused on fighting. We all do. He and I, we fight a little differently from everyone else.”
    “I don’t want this to be the final battle.”
    “No one on our side does. You’d be amazed -- many on the other side don’t, either.”
    “Really?” I found this difficult to buy. The Prince’s minions were all about total domination. It was one of the main reasons they joined up at his myriad recruiting stations.
    “I think our agent on the inside would know.”
    “He doing okay?” It wasn’t wise to say his name aloud. As one of the few who knew what his real role in the grand scheme was, I also knew I was only safe thinking about Lucifer in this capacity because I was right next to an immensely powerful angel who could block my mind from others’.
    “So far as the few messages through can confirm. However, we do know not all the minions want the great war. Some, like Ishtrallum down the block, are far happier with the status quo than they would ever be if the Prince were to achieve his goals.”
    “If he says so, okay.”
    “He does. He also says that, should any of us face him in battle, we have to treat him like an enemy.”
    I considered this. Abaddon and Apollyon I would have no trouble killing. Well, I’d have trouble in that they were frighteningly more powerful than me, but none whatsoever with guilt or indecision. With Lucifer -- with someone who, by a long tail of comparison, was doing the same kind of job I was, albeit in far more dangerous circumstances -- it wouldn’t be so simple. I didn’t know him, of course. He’d been in deep cover so long that he’d never come to the human plane, never visited Necropolis.
    I’d met Satan. Martin had introduced us. I rather liked Satan. I couldn’t kill him, but I wouldn’t be asked to. I wouldn’t be asked to take out any of those who actually worked for the gods.
    But if the Prince was bringing out his biggest, baddest lieutenants, then Lucifer was going to be in the fray, some way, somehow. And I didn’t know if I would be able to treat him like an enemy, even though I’d never met him. “Can you block my mind so that no one else, other than you two, can tell if I’m thinking