Free Color of Angels' Souls by Sophie Audouin-Mamikonian

himself to the fact that he would just have to get by on his own in this new world. He was finally starting to think straight. No, he wasn’t going to turn into one of those wispy phantoms and just melt away, because he now had plenty of projects to occupy his new life. He would find some way to protect his half sister from that red Angel, and protect his mother from Frank Tachini. He would find proof that it really was Tachini who had had him killed, and find out why. If Claire learned the truth, she would leave him for good. He was thrilled by the idea, but wasn’t sure it was worth the risk.
    He went downstairs and made himself comfortable on one of the big fat sofas in the luxurious living room, decorated in subtle grays and gilded tones. Now why would Frank want to kill him? He could think of several possibilities.
    Maybe his stepfather wanted to get rid of Jeremy, the only heir to his grandfather’s immense fortune (but Frank had really looked stunned when he’d learned that his wife was now rich), so that he could then kill Claire to inherit the money himself (but the color of his emotions had clearly shown that Frank really loved his mother).
    He just wanted to get his hands on more loot.
    Or maybe he had hired the hit man to get revenge on Jeremy. After all, Claire had decided to leave Frank once Jeremy had told her about his investigation of her husband’s illegal activities.
    In that case, the motive was love. He wanted to hang on to his wife.
    Then again there could be a third reason, that was linked in some way to the murder of that other mysterious woman, Annabella Dafing, on the same night Jeremy was killed. But he still had no idea what that link could be.
    And who was that Mongolian hit man anyway? And why had that psychopath used such a horrible—and above all, spectacular— method to kill him? It was almost as if his murder had been some kind of warning. Which led to another hypothesis. Maybe it was one of those enemies that Frank claimed he didn’t have, who wanted to let him know he wasn’t as untouchable as he thought he was?
    Jeremy thought of that famous scene in The Godfather , when the guy finds a horse’s head in his bed. Had Jeremy just been the horse in the story? A collateral victim in one of Frank’s sordid affairs, and nothing more? Great.
    All this thinking was starting to give him a headache, and not a clue about the real solution to the enigma. He would have to keep a close eye on Frank. But above all, he would have to find a way to get rid of the red Angel that was terrorizing his sis—Jeremy suddenly caught himself. He had been about to say “his sister,” even though she was only his half sister. “Whatever,” he sighed. She was his sister after all, wasn’t she? He was unprepared for all the love that he suddenly felt for the little girl, now that he was dead. He had to protect her. And above all, he had to get ahold of himself, learn more about what had happened, understand what was going on. More than anything, he had to be strong, and that meant he needed more Mist. The need for it now became obvious to him.
    He left the house.
    Outside, the furious dance of the red and blue Angels continued, never-ending. When he walked past the guard dogs, he noticed that the German Shepherds perked up. The dogs couldn’t see him but seemed to sense his presence in some strange way. Incredible! One of them even barked before it lay back down. Well, he had found an explanation for a phenomenon that had always intrigued him. Now he knew why dogs sometimes barked for no apparent reason. They could feel the Angels’ presence!
    Jeremy stopped in front of the animals. They began to tremble. He slowly bent over and tried to run his hand over their soft fur, but his hand passed right through. The dogs were slightly agitated, but nothing more. They couldn’t feel his caress. Too bad.
    He straightened back up, unsure what to do