Shadow WIngs (Skeleton Key) by Skeleton Key, JC Andrijeski Page B

if the question had occurred to him before.
    “No,” he said finally, looking at her. “I liked you.”
    “You liked me?”
    “Yes.” He paused. For a second he looked as if he might elaborate on that.
    He didn’t.
    “...I got close to you initially because of Golunsky,” he said instead, averting his gaze as he shifted the topic smoothly. “Later, I realized you were one of the few connected to this case who might be able to help me. I was concerned when I felt you decide no political motive was likely... I thought it might cause you to drop the case. I also feared it might cause the police to stop looking. And to stop preparing for additional incidents.”
    Meeting her gaze again, he shrugged.
    “...Although, you are right, of course. There is no political motive. Not the way your government would define it. The demon’s goals center more around destabilization, panic, delusion, paranoia. He would want you to harm yourselves... to spread fear and aggression so that you would attack your own kind. There is much more suffering when humans are burdened with the guilt of causing death, in addition to the rest. And as for why now...”  
    His gray eyes turned a shade darker.  
    “...Change is coming, Ilana. To Russia. To the world.”
    She paused the motion of her arm and hand, halting where she’d been about to take a sip of her coffee. Finishing the gesture, she grimaced when she realized it was stone cold. Standing, she walked to the sink and dumped what was left in her mug. Rinsing it out with water, she contemplated making more, then decided it could wait.
    Leaning her hands on the porcelain sink, she didn’t look back when she spoke.
    “What do you mean?” she said.
    “Change is coming. We have seen it. It could be disrupted of course... there is always free will, and disruption is always possible. But change is very likely... and it is likely to happen soon. Within the next decade, which in angelic time is practically now.”
    “But what change? What are you speaking of?”
    “Russia will once more open its doors.”
    She turned, staring at him. “Words like that could get you in trouble, comrade.”
    “They are not a threat. Simply the truth.”
    “How could you possibly know that?” She bit her lip. “And why would you say such a thing to me, knowing what I am?”
    Raguel leaned back in his chair. His expression remained serene, even reassuring.
    “I wish only for the happiness of your people, Ilana.” His voice and eyes held so much sincerity she could only stare at him. “The world changes. Angels do not do this... your people do. Time. Fate. Karma... whatever you wish to call it. We try to help when these things come, but we do not create them, any more than we create time itself. We call these things ‘windows,’ or ‘nodes’ in the timeline. A big one is coming. We have all seen it. It is why so many of us are down here right now. It is why Lahash is here, too.”
    She thought about his words.
    Again, she felt much more behind them than she could articulate clearly to herself.
    “You think this demon... what? Will actually destroy Mother Russia?”
    Raguel shook his head. “I think it will try to plunge Russia back into darkness and fear if it could. I think it would prevent this change if it could––create a backlash that returns Russia to an age of repression. It has been trying already, both here and across the ocean. My brethren have been working with the leaders in the United States, trying to calm the more warlike rhetoric, to keep things from escalating more. But The Fallen have people there, too...”
    “How?” She clutched the sink harder. “What would these ‘Fallen’ do?”
    Raguel shrugged, his eyes untouched by her anger. “Cause war, perhaps? A security clamp-down on your own population? Both?”
    “The Motherland must do what it must to protect itself!”
    Raguel sighed. “You would not want this, Ilana.” His voice grew heartbreakingly gentle. “Do you