His gaze lingered on my face for some time. "I was hunting demonic reapers with Nathaniel. We got separated and I was cornered. They tortured and interrogated me to find out what I knew about the other angelic reapers, but I didn't know anything. I was playing vigilante with Nathaniel. We didn't know what we were doing back then. And then you came."

His expression softened as he gazed at me, the look in his eyes distant and longing. "You were like a warrior angel I'd seen in the stained glass of a cathedral. I knew who you were the moment I saw you, because I'd heard of you. Everyone had. And you freed me."

"But I told you to leave me alone," I said. "What made you try again?"

"That very night, an angel came to me," he confessed. "I don't know his name or why he'd appeared to me of al people, but he told me that your fate and mine were tied together. He said that I needed to protect you, because you were the most sacred of al things. My destiny was to become your Guardian, in a long line of Guardians: I was chosen. He gave me my sword and the power to awaken you, so you could become the Preliator in each reincarnation. He gave me purpose, some sort of resolution in my immortality, a focus. You gave me purpose."

I smiled down at him, and he grinned right back. I was very thankful that he had became my Guardian. Remembering that flashback to ancient Egypt made me want never to know life without him ever again. I felt the losses of my previous Guardians, but I trusted no one more with my life than Wil . Without him, I didn't think I could fulfil my mission of destroying the demonic reapers.

My phone rang, shattering the silence between us. "It's Nathaniel." I held the phone up to my ear.

"El ie," Nathaniel said before I could speak. "Where are you guys?"

"The warehouse. What's up?"

"Don't leave. I'l meet you there." He hung up. The urgency in his voice got my pulse pounding. My eyes met Wil 's. 26

WE WAITED, TENSE WITH ANTICIPATION, FOR Nathaniel to arrive. When he final y drove into the al ey and parked behind my car, he and Lauren, the psychic I had met the first time I'd met Nathaniel, climbed out and walked right past us and into the warehouse. Nathaniel waved a hand for us to fol ow him into the room where we kept the sarcophagus. As soon as I entered, I felt the frightening, familiar thrum emanating from the Enshi. Nathaniel and Lauren were standing by the sarcophagus.

"Nice to see you again, El ie," Lauren said.

"You, too," I replied with a smile. "What's up, Nathaniel?"

"I've figured out the language on the sarcophagus," he said.

Wil perked up. "And?"

"The script is indeed an archaic cuneiform," Nathaniel said excitedly. "But it's older than Old Assyrian, older than even the Akkadian style."

I stared at the box, my head fil ing with thick clouds, preventing me from thinking straight. "How old exactly?"

"Approximately five thousand years."

My eyes bulged. Wil shifted uncomfortably next to me. I looked at him and his eyes met mine. "Jesus," I murmured.

"Nope," Nathaniel chirped. "Jesus isn't in here."

I blinked. "I wasn't . . ."

He grinned and winked at me. I assumed it was supposed to be another of his amazing jokes, but they just weren't funny to me. I gave a soft, uneasy laugh to humor him. He beamed proudly. I glanced at Wil , who only shrugged and shook his head. He understood completely.

Nathaniel turned serious again. "What I mean is that the Enshi was locked up in this sarcophagus three thousand years before the birth of Christ."

"Does it say what the Enshi is?" Wil asked.

Nathaniel half nodded, half shrugged. "Yes, and no. It's al bad news, which is why I've brought Lauren here to help me determine what's inside."

"What kind of bad news?" I asked.

"Wel , if you look closely at the sarcophagus," Nathaniel began, stroking the box tenderly, "you'l notice that it's beautiful y decorated. The ancient Mesopotamians only ever buried very important people this way, so the body within is at the very least of great importance. That's the first bad news. The second is--if you'd kindly look at this symbol here--the inscriptions tel me that our friend inside is a true soul reaper."

"In English, please?" I asked dul y.

Nathaniel gave me a strange look. "That was English."

" In American, then," I said. "Nothing of what you say makes a lick of sense to me."

Wil 's shoulder brushed mine. "He means a being that can do whatever it wants with the souls instead of just sending them to Hel ."

"No way," I said. "Like the Grim Reaper? Death himself?"

"That's what humans like to cal it," Wil said. "Is it possible that the Enshi is an angel, then? Of an archangel rank, perhaps?"

Nathaniel nodded. "Yes. Best-case scenario is that this is some kind of extrapowerful reaper who can send souls to Hel or Heaven. That's probably how the Grim Reaper legend began. The worst-case scenario is that our sleeping friend here actual y eats the souls, meaning the soul is gone for good. No Hel . No Heaven."

"That's terrible," I said.

Wil 's expression grew dark. "And El ie? Does that mean

--?"

Nathaniel nodded. "Yeah, it does."

Wil let out a long, painful breath edged with fear. My heart sank. I searched both their faces. "What do you mean? What does that mean for me? Wil ?"