A chill crawled down Andy's spine. There was a time when the rustle of feathers and smell of honeysuckle filled him with elation.
"What on earth could be so important you would actually pick up the phone and call me?"
Andy shuddered. "Scout," he greeted dryly.
The raven haired woman tilted her head to the side, silver eyes piercing through his soul as she folded massive feathered wings to her back. "So...why am I here?"
Andy sighed and lightly picked up a book from his desk. "Because you're the only Fallen I know. And I need help."
"Oh, you need MY help," she scoffed. "That's rich."
The Prophet groaned. "Scout, it's been like, five years. Let it go already."
The lights flickered a bit as the angel bristled. "Let it go?!" she demanded. "I gave you my literal heart. I FELL for you. I can never return to Heaven. To my home. I'll never see my father again unless he's coming to collect my soul."
"Need I remind you, YOU left ME!" Andy shouted back.
"Because you hid the truth of your identity for six years!"
"How was I supposed to know it would cause you to leave? I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you."
"I wanted that too," Scout said, sadly. "But I'm forbidden, even as a Fallen, to interfere in the affairs of Secret Keepers. The Angelic are too powerful. My presence, alone, could alter the course of history."
Andy looked away, turning his attention to the books on his desk. "Will you help? Please?" His voice was gentle.
"You're mated now, right?" Scout prompted, easing into the room from the balcony.
A nod. "To Ashley. Yeah."
"He treats you well?"
A small smile traced the corners of Andy's lips. "Very."
"Then yes." Scout flounced - there's no other word for it - across the room and dropped into a bulky recliner. "I'll help you."
"Ah," Andy started with a wince. "Please don't sit in that chair. If Ashley smells anyone in it who isn't him or me he will. Go. Crazy."
Scout abruptly stood and turned to inspect the chair. "Ooooh," she drawled, clueing in. "I am so sorry. I hope that I don't cause you any trouble." She pulled a high backed chair over to the desk and settled carefully into it. "So what do you need help with?"
Andy sighed. "A recurring vision. I've been getting it since I was 15. It's just a fleet of angels falling."
The angel's eyebrows knit together. "That's not happened since, well...since Lucifer."
Andy's eyes lit up. "You don't, by chance, have contact with him?"
Scout drew back as if she'd been struck. "I have nothing of the sort!"
"Hey, hey," Andy said, holding his arms up in surrender. "As a Prophet, I am, by nature, impartial."
The woman settled again, propping her head in a hand with her elbow wedged between two books on the desk. "I am a good Angel. My only crime was falling in love." There was a touch of sadness to her voice. "My obedience ultimately outweighed my love for you. It was safer and less painful for us both for me to leave, alive, rather than remain just to make you a widower." She sighed and traced a set of glyphs on the inside cover of a book. "But no. I haven't had contact with my uncle since I told him to shove it the day I Fell."
Andy's eyebrows crinkled. "The angels, the ones that were falling. They were looking for a child."
That got a reaction out of Scout. She stood abruptly. "I'm sorry. I cannot help you. Not directly."
Andy stood as well, leveling his eyes at her. "Because of the rules?" he hazarded.
She gave only a single nod in response. "I can, however, point you in the right direction. When the time comes, you will gain access to the Canidae Hall of Prophecy. Your answers lie, not in events of the past, but in ancient recordings of things that are still to come."
"A riddle?" Andy asked, incredulously. "All you can give me is another fucking riddle?"
Scout smiled sadly at the man she loved. "It is all I can tell you. Until then, try looking here." She pulled a heavy, golden leather book down from a shelf in the far corner and handed it to Andy. In a last moment of weakness, she leaned in and pressed a soft, chaste kiss to his lips.
Andy's eyes fluttered closed. "Ash," he gasped.
The fallen angel shook out her wings as she pulled away. All doubts that she'd once made the wrong decision in leaving were driven from her mind. No matter how much she loved Andy, she knew, without a doubt, that he belonged with with the vampire he now called mate.
"Goodbye, Andy." There was a note of finality in her voice. Then she stepped off the balcony, spread her wings, and was gone.
Andy rushed forward after her. As the electric feel of the air settled, all Andy was left with was a heavy book, and a primary feather as long as his arm. "Scout," he whispered. He'd thought, after all this time, it wouldn't hurt. He knew the reasons. As a Prophet, of course he understood them. And he was mated, now. He loved Ashley with all of his being. But Scout had once been his whole world. Something about the way she had said goodbye had sounded like she would never come back. Perhaps it was the closure he needed. But it was crushing all the same.
He glanced down at the book she'd handed him. The cover held only one word, scrawled by hand in blood red ink.
ENOCH.
Angel.
Andy sighed and settled into his favorite high backed chair. He placed the feather lovingly onto his desk, scribbling the word "vase" on a sticky note beside it as a reminder for later. The he opened the book and began to read.
