“I do know a guy…” Michael started off.
“What are you, a mobster?” Gabe snorted, playfully pushing his brother.
“Well, the guy is an informant of sorts. He used to help the police department out. He seems to know a lot of stuff that goes on in town. If anything weird is going on, he’d probably be clued in on it,” Michael responded.
“Well then, there’s a plan. We can go talk to this guy and let Kushiel know what he says. Who is it, anyway?” Gabe asked.
“His name is Cassius. He owns—” Michael began, but Kushiel cut him off.
“A coffee shop?” Kushiel finished.
“Yes!” Michael replied. “Have you met him?”
“Yes, I stopped in. He was flirting with me, I think,” Kushiel answered, and then he thought back to the conversation with the barista again.
The barista who had called him angel.
The barista who had asked him if he needed help.
The barista who had said that he was who Kushiel was looking for.
Kushiel put his head into his hands. “I’m an idiot,” he muttered.
Gabe snorted, but Michael looked sympathetic. “Cass says some weird stuff sometimes, and he’s easy to misinterpret. I wouldn’t worry about it. We can come along and smooth things over,” Michael reassured him.
“That won’t be necessary,” Kushiel answered. “He was offering to help me, and I clearly misunderstood. I will go back and see him. You two have helped enough, and I have a feeling your soulmates will be looking for you before too much longer. I don’t think I need Ari and Az’s assistance in speaking to this coffee shop owner.”
Gabe snorted, and Michael even smirked at that comment.
“Yes, our two demons would probably only make things ten times more complicated than they need to be. Chaos and lust, after all,” Gabe laughed.
With that Gabe and Michael got up in unison, giving him instructions to call if they needed him and telling him “not to be a stranger,” which he had always thought was an odd human phrase. How could he be a stranger if they knew who he was?
As they walked off, laughing and talking together, Kushiel had a moment of envy. He called the demons his brothers, but really, he was alone. He was not fully angelic anymore, but nor was he in any way a demon.
He was an only child of the universe.
Sometimes he wondered what it would be like to have had someone to do the work with him, but he knew those thoughts were silly. You could not change the workings of creation.
Well, perhaps a few lucky demons could, since Az, Ari, and even Minos had found soulmates in humans. Kushiel pushed down envy again; it was a useless emotion, and a soulmate was not for one such as him. It didn’t seem to be for any angels, and surely if one was chosen to find such an unparalleled gift, it would be an angel of the utmost worth.
It would not be him.
With that, he stood and made his way along the path, back toward the coffee shop. Yes, he could’ve used his wings to get there, but there was something nice about taking a walk and hoping that there would be answers at the end of it. He wanted to keep the hopeful feeling for as long as he could.
Perhaps he was also feeling slightly silly about meeting with Cass again, too. He had so clearly misinterpreted the human’s comments. He knew his human form wasn’t unattractive, but the man had clearly been trying to help him, and he had mistaken it for flirtation. It was rather embarrassing.
Nevertheless, a little embarrassment was a small price to pay if this Cass could be of some assistance to him.
Chapter 5
Cassius
It was raining again, which suited Cass’s mood just fine.
He stood at the counter in the shop, which was blessedly empty. Steph and a few part-timers had opened up this morning, and he’d come in late and sent them all home an hour ago, assuring them he’d be fine until the after-work crew came on. He was glad for a little peace and quiet, and the smell of coffee and baked pastries was comforting, even if sometimes he felt like he was sweating baked goods from his pores after working in the shop all day.
He needed the comfort right now, and the quiet.
