"Thomas E. Sniegoski - Aerie" - читать интересную книгу автора (Sniegoski Thomas E)

He froze. His foster mom would havedescribed the strange feeling as somebody walking over his grave,
whatever the hell that meant.He never did understand the strange superstitions she often shared, but for
some reason, theimagery of that one always stuck with him. Aaronmissed his foster parents, who had
been mercilessly slain by Verchiel, and it made his desire tofind his brother all the more urgent. He turned
away from the counter to see a man hurriedlygoing out a back door, two others in pursuit.

The angelic nature that had been a part ofhim since his eighteenth birthday screamed to benoticed, and
senses far beyond the human norm kicked into action. There was a trace of something in the air that
marked the men's passing asthey left the store. It was an aroma that Aaron could discern even over the
prominent smells ofhot vegetable oil and frying meat. The air wastainted with the rich smell of spiceтАФand
of blood.
 With a polite thank-you he took his food andleft the store, quickly heading to the metallicblue Toyota
Corolla parked at the back of the lot.He could see the eager face of his dog in the backwindow. Gabriel
began to bark happily as hereached the car, not so much that his master hadreturned, but that he had
returned with food.

"What took so long?" the dog asked as Aaronplaced the bags on the driver's seat."Ididn'tthink you
were ever coming out."

Being able to understand and speak anyform of language, including the vocalizations ofanimals, was yet
another strange manifestation of Aaron's angelic talents, and one that was botha blessing and a curse
when it came to his canine friend.

"I'm starved, Aaron,"the dog said eagerly,hoping that there would be something in one ofthe bags to
satisfy what seemed to be a Labradorretriever's insatiable urge to eat.

Gabriel also loved to talk, and after Aaronhad used his unique abilities to save the dogafter a car
accident, the Lab had suddenlybecome much smarter, making him quite thedynamic personality. Aaron
loved the dog morethan just about anything else, but there weredays that he wished Gabriel wasonly a
dog.

"I'd really like to eat,"he said from the backseat, licking his chops.

"Not now, Gabe," Aaron responded, directing his attention to the large man sitting with hiseyes closed in
the passenger seat. "I have to speak with Camael." The angel ignored him, butthat didn't stop Aaron from
talking. "Inside the restaurant," he said. "I think three angels justwent out the back door and ..."

Camael slowly turned his head and openedhis steely blue eyes. "Two of them are of thePowers; the
other, a fallen angel"тАФhe tilted backhis head of silvery white hair and sniffed, themustache of his goatee
twitchingтАФ"of the hostCherubim, I believe. I was aware of their presence when we pulled into the lot."

"And you didn't think it was important tosay anything?" Aaron asked, annoyed. "Thiscould be the break
we've been waiting for. Theymight know where Stevie is."

The angel stared at him without emotion,the plight of Aaron's little brother obviously thefurthest thing
from his mind. With Camael, itwas all about fulfilling the prophecyтАФthat andfinding a mysterious haven
for fallen angelscalled Aerie.

"We have to go after them," Aaron said forcefully. "This is the first contact we've had with anything