He sat with his knees apart and his hands on the arms of the chair. When I shined my flashlight on him, he squinted and frowned at me.
I walked closer and turned on a lamp beside his chair. That time he scowled.
“I think we tried that already.” I took a seat on his sofa. “You almost exploded. Which, thank goodness, you didn’t. You’d never have come out of Garrett’s carpet.”
He tried to charm me with a lopsided grin. “I said sup. Not swallow in one, nuclear gulp.”
It worked. Osh, or Osh’ekiel, as he was known in the supernatural realm, looked about nineteen in human years, but he was hundreds of years old. Since time was different down under, it was impossible to tell how old, exactly, but his pale skin, shoulder-length blue-black hair, and shimmering bronze eyes made him quite popular with humans of all ages.
Still, I’d known for months he’d play an important role in things to come. I knew he’d be by my daughter’s side. I knew she’d love him. But I also knew he was created and raised in a hell dimension. Still, I trusted him. He would love Beep. He would give his life for her. But the prophecies that foretold of Beep’s coming trials also said that there was one who would either lead her to victory or be her downfall.
I believed that prophesied entity to be Osh, though I had no way to know for certain. I saw through the veil, but most of what I saw was vague, and none of it was set in stone. If Lucifer won, if he found Beep and killed her before she could fulfill her prophecy, he would be unstoppable.
For some reason, Reyes and I had not been in the visions I’d seen. We were either dead by the time she came of age or unable to assist her, which led back to the being dead part, because nothing but nothing would keep me from helping my daughter short of that.
But she would love him. Osh. Beep would love him with all her heart. And he would love her back. Mythology in every culture in the world had stories of infants being promised to royalty or celestial beings or hideous beasts, but for it to be real, for it to actually exist, was both surreal and disturbing.
“You keep looking at me like that.”
“Like what?” I asked.
“Like you’re trying to figure me out.”
“Sorry. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“I swallowed a god and lived to tell the tale. I’m good.”
He had yet to move, but his glistening gaze missed nothing. The cracks in his skin where my energy had seeped out of him had almost completely healed. Only faint purplish lines remained on his face and neck. He wore a black long-sleeved T-shirt and jeans, so I couldn’t see much beyond that.
“And you’re sitting here in the dark because…?”
“I was waiting, but you’ve scared them off.”
I sat up straight, alarmed. “Them? Who were you waiting for?”
“Two men have been casing my house. I did a rather elaborate ruse to get them to think I was out for the night. They were just about to break in when you pulled up.”
“Don’t tell me you’re hungry already,” I said, teasing him. “I wasn’t enough for you?”
“I told you, I could live off you for all eternity. But a guy likes a snack here and there.”
“Are you okay, really?”
He didn’t answer for a long time, and when he did talk, it had nothing to do with my question. “Why are you here?”
“I told you. I’m checking on you.”
“You don’t look good in guilt.”
I dropped my gaze. “I’m so sorry, Osh. I almost killed you.”
He leaned forward. Took my chin into his hand. “You did what you had to do. And what I never in a million years thought you could do. One of these days, I’m going to stop underestimating you.”
“Yeah, well, one nasty god down and one to go. Any suggestions?”
“Only that I don’t think I can take you in again and live to defend my strip poker title.”
“I would never do that to you.” When he cast me a dubious stare, I added, “Not a second time.”
“Then you’ll lose.” He said it so matter-of-factly that I glanced up at him in question. “If you aren’t willing to do anything, to sacrifice anyone, then you will lose and your daughter will be dead before she’s old enough to know what a wuss her mother was. Which is probably for the best.”
“Because I’m not willing to sacrifice you —”
“Anyone.”
“— we will automatically lose?”
He stood and raked a hand through his hair. “This god, this Eidolon, doesn’t play by the same rules you do. The odds of you trapping another god in that glass… let’s just say they aren’t in your favor.” When I didn’t respond, he changed the subject. “How’s your uncle?”
“Still slated for hell.”
“Why?” He sat down again and leveled a curious stare on me.
“What do you mean, why? Reyes saw it. He killed people. It doesn’t matter that they were horrible and were planning on abducting me so their boss could eat me. Uncle Bob made the decision to hunt these men down and take human life, so he’s automatically penciled in for an eternity of agony.”
None of it made sense. Nor was it fair. Why would a noble pursuit sentence Uncle Bob to hell? Reyes explained it once. Said that Ubie had taken lives on purpose when there were other options. It was not self-defense, but premeditated. Still…
When Jehovah and I finally meet face-to-face, we are going to have a serious discussion.
“No, I know all that,” he said. “I was just wondering why. Want a beer?” He stood and turned on several lights before heading to the kitchen. I followed him.