The Sight: City of Sin
In the penultimate story of the CITY OF SIN Collection: Dominion angel Jaie grapples with the loss of his djinni, Aminata “Amie” Fisher. Yet as he struggles to have her loss not be in vain, another may be required to turn the tide in the fight for Creation.
Excerpt Chapter 2
“Where should I be?”
The question pulled Jaie out of his thoughts and he looked at his lieutenant. She certainly wasn’t ready to go into the field.
“You are to stay inside and watch over Melody and Bot,” Jaie said.
“I’m not an infant,” Melody said, scowling fiercely. The expression did nothing to diminish her golden beauty, although part of him thought Aminata would laugh at the indignation stark in her friend’s voice.
“This is way beyond your pay grade, Mel,” Aaliyah said.
“And yet, I’m one of the few normals who knows what’s going on,” Melody countered. “And maybe there are more, if they were paying the least bit of attention to Amie’s broadcasts, or that story she told before she…”
Her voice frayed into a whisper, then nothing. Jaie’s own throat squeezed with a grief that was still too raw for him to process. Now this possibility of Aminata still being alive sent whatever small progress he’d made into a tailspin.
“And we want to make sure you and other normals and supernormals survive,” Orion said, his tone brooking no argument. “You will stay with Ariella. She’ll be able to communicate with us in ways you can’t.”
“An old-fashioned shout won’t cut it?” Melody mumbled, crossing her arms at her chest.
Aaliyah snorted and even Jaie had to grin before he answered, “It’s possible it won’t. We have to prepare for anything.”
“Amie was good for that,” Melody said absently, automatically. The sharpness of loss almost had Jaie hunching over.
“She was good,” Orion said, his tone uncharacteristically tender.
That she was.
They left the room, Jaie preceding Orion who closed and locked his office. The pair walked slowly, Jaie’s eyes fixed on Ariella, Melody, and Bot. Bot kept looking back to Jaie, the dog’s expression the very definition of “puppy-dog eyes.”
“That canine is still acting strangely,” Orion said. Despite the nature of the conversation, Jaie had to grin at the mild derision in Orion’s voice. No matter what, there would always be little love lost between Orion and anything remotely related to the lupine family.
“She smells Aminata on me.”
Orion arched an eyebrow. “And why is that?”
“I went to where her ashes were spread,” Jaie revealed. “I saw her there.”
Orion stopped walking, compelling Jaie to do the same. “You saw Amie’s ghost?”
“You cannot touch ghosts,” Jaie said. Can’t hold them. Can’t kiss them.
“You touched Amie’s ghost?”
“Yes,” Jaie said, his eyes skipping to the high ceiling of the corridor. “She still had scars from the last time I saw her—more, actually—but she looked ethereal. I knew she wasn’t an angel. Her aura wasn’t right for it.”
“She still had an aura?”
“Yes,” Jaie said. “Gold and blue, just like usual.”
Orion continued to look contemplative, then he began down the hall again. Jaie walked instep. People walked toward them or by them, none looking in their direction. They were Unseen so they could have this private conversation.
“Cremation is a terribly convenient way to dispose of a dead body,” Orion said after a moment.
“Terribly,” Jaie said dryly.
“Well, I don’t want to hope, but is that not what the New Year is for?” Orion asked. “The possibility of new beginnings?”
“Yes,” Jaie said with nod. “But one thing at a time. We can further investigate Aminata after we have stopped Donas.”
“Yet again,” Orion said, smirking a little.
“Yet again,” Jaie said, his sunlit brown eyes flashing.
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