Rai cleared her throat. “If I may say…” she began. I gave her a nod, curious. “I came here to repay a debt to your mother… But I would like to pass that gift on to you. After all, you’ve already saved my life more times than she did, technically speaking.” She dipped her head at me. “Your mother would be very proud of the woman you have be—”
The door suddenly exploding inwards and hammering into Rai ruined the sentimental moment.
She went flying past my shoulder as if hit by a truck. My defensive black fan had instantly popped into existence, shielding me from flying debris, chunks of drywall, and even the lock from the door. I heard Rai slam into Eae behind me, and fire sizzled from somewhere near Nate as I peered over my fan through the cloud of dust, ready to throw down.
Chapter 53
I saw the silhouette of a giant white mountain of fur in the shattered, groaning doorway, struggling to peer through the cloud of dusty air.
“Got you now, stank-witch!” the polar bear roared.
“Bear!” Rai wheezed, sounding as if she was struggling to her feet.
“Stand down!” I shouted at everyone. “It’s Claire! A friendly,” I added, for those who didn’t personally know her.
Claire sniffed the air suddenly. “Callie?” she snorted in a stunned growl.
“Clairebear,” I said, sighing in relief that we weren’t actually under attack. She abruptly shifted back to her human form, squinting through the dust.
“What are you— Hey!” she hopped back, slapping a hand to her hip. Seeing nothing there, she spun back to us. “Who just slapped my ass?”
Nate began whistling innocently, hiding in his corner out of view. I sighed at his childish use of magic.
“That’s Nate, isn’t it?” Claire snarled, trying to step through the debris to get a good look.
“How did you know?” he asked, chuckling.
“You have woman hands. It makes sense that your magic hands are also dainty.”
His chuckle cut off abruptly, and he muttered something darkly under his breath. I caught him discreetly glancing down at his hands, reassuring himself.
“Nameless is looking for you. He left a note under your door,” Claire said, finally stumbling into the room. She stood there, naked, looking like some post-apocalyptic prostitute.
Grimm whinnied, shaking his head. “I love shifters,” he said appreciatively.
Claire rolled her eyes with a smile. Then she cleared her throat, reciting the message from Nameless, even attempting the sound of his voice.
“The Templars will not leave you alone, now. I have seen what they have become and am disheartened. As I told you before, some battles must be avoided in order to win a war. Help me win my war tonight at midnight, and I’ll aid you in your battle against the Templars later. Andy says hello.”
Nate chimed in, sounding suspicious. “Who the fuck is Andy?”
I ignored Nate and waved a hand in thanks at Claire, motioning for her to give me a minute to think. She nodded and sauntered over to Nate – as far away from Rai as she could get, although not before shooting the witch a dark look for the chase she’d apparently led Claire on. I turned my back on everyone, disregarding the conversation bubbling up as Nate caught Claire up to speed on Rai.
I felt Eae watching me out of the corner of his eye as he spoke with Rai, checking over her for injuries since she had been slapped around three times in this room already and might have a few concussions.
I ignored his glances as I began to pace back and forth, thinking furiously. Thinking carefully.
Andy says hello was Nameless confirming that he had the Ring of Aandaleeb – the Seal of Solomon. It was a subtle reminder of what I had called it in the Templar Vault.
This didn’t change anything. In fact,…
It might just work better.
I finally sighed, motioning Eae to approach me in private. “I’d like you there to watch my back,” I told the Angel, low enough so that no one could hear me. He studied me for a moment, thinking. His eternal eyes swept over the group in calculation before returning to mine.
“Okay.” He looked relieved that I had asked him – surprised to find that his recommendation about how to handle the Seal had taken root in me.
Then I told him what else I needed, and he stiffened in disbelief. “I need you to do it this very second, and not ask a single question.”
He frowned suspiciously, thinking longer over this than the first request, but finally nodded in grim resolve. “If that’s the only way…” I didn’t reply. “Okay,” he finally said. He disappeared between one second and the next.
Rai watched me nervously as I approached. I told her what I required of her, speaking softly so no one else could hear. By now, the rest of the room had gone silent, Claire, Nate, and Grimm watching us suspiciously. Rai frowned nervously, looking shaken. I didn’t let my face react at all, just returned her look. “You said you owed me.”
She finally nodded, a stiff, jerking motion. “So I did, and I’ll honor it…” she whispered.
“Why don’t you just tell us what the others are doing?” Claire demanded impatiently.
I turned to look at her. I shook my head. “No.” And that was the extent of my explanation.
I turned to Nate, smiling faintly for the first time. “I think it’s time for you to let me wobble.”
“I’ll only ask this once, so really think about it…” he said. I nodded. “Are you sure?”
I focused on my breathing. “Yes,” I finally answered him.
He sighed but dipped his chin respectfully. “Okay. Take care, Callie. You know how to call on a friend if you need a quick exit,” he said, eyes flicking to Grimm so discreetly that no one else noticed it.
I smiled tiredly. “I won’t need it. But the gesture means more than you know.”
With that, Nate made a Gateway back to St. Louis with Grimm, and Rai sprinkled a handful of dust over her head as she murmured a word. Her body disintegrated to blue ashes, but not a speck of it remained on the carpet where she had been standing. I grunted, turning to Claire, ready for a fight.
She had her hands on her hips, and she looked determined. “What is your secret plan? Because I can promise you right now, I’ll be there, so you might as well just tell me.”
I was done playing by everyone else’s rules. It hadn’t done me any good in the past. I was calling the shots, now.
“Thanks for tracking down Rai,” I said. “Didn’t expect her to track me down, though. Where are we, anyway?”
Claire was frowning at me. “In a warehouse off the Interstate,” she said guardedly. “That witch is wily, I’ll give her that. It was a pain in the ass to follow her, especially in bear form, which was the only way I could scent her.”
I nodded absently, not really caring. “You won’t be joining me, Claire.”
“Now, you can stop right ther—” she began.
I rounded on her so fast that she cut off, her face paling as she saw my eyes. “No.” I let my anger, my frustration, my hatred of the Templars and Beckett’s betrayal, all wash over me. “I’m doing this my way, Claire! I’m sick and tired of everyone telling me what to do, helping me when it’s convenient for them. I’m the one with holy blood, so stop second-guessing me!” I was panting, shaking with anger as I took a step closer to her. “Do you have any idea what Eae told me tonight? What Rai told me tonight. They knew my parents. The real story. How – and why – they abandoned me. How – and why – they had to die. You have no idea, Claire. This ends here. Now. My way.”
Claire studied me, trying to find some crack she could wheedle into, some chink in my armor where her compassion and sympathy would find fertile ground.
But I was a barren wasteland.
“And how many will die in your wake, Callie?” she finally asked in a calm tone.
I snorted impassively. “I no longer care. The only ones in danger are those who get in my way.”
“And what about Beckett? I think he’s stil
l inside there somewhere, Callie. I think he’s confused. Drowning in his own grief,” she pleaded.
I shrugged. “Too bad for him, then. I’m finding myself agreeing more and more with the Templars these days.” Her face paled in disbelief, but I didn’t bother to let her reply. “None of them seem to care about me – the monsters, the monster hunters – so I say let them burn. Serves them right. Maybe they’ll get the fuck out of Kansas City after they see what I’m capable of.”
I could sense Claire failing to restrain her own anger. “I think you might be letting your special magic get to your head,” she growled. “I don’t give a shit what you learned today. You don’t have to do this alone!”
“Just stay out of my way, Claire. You’ll only mess things up. You don’t have the right tools to stand against Angels and Demons.” I met her eyes and she stepped back instinctively. “I do.”
She gave me one last furious look before storming from the room and shifting back to her bear form. Then she loped off into the night.
I stared at where I had last seen her, chest heaving as I focused on the whirlwind of news I had received tonight. The history of lies.
I was an abomination – abandoned by my parents’ act of sin – hidden away like a dirty family secret. Only to be taken out when guests could not see me. I had spent my life dropped off from one place to the next – my adopted family, the church, and even my friends.
When the powers that be realized I might be a benefit to their cause, they were suddenly available, willing and able to share secrets about my past with me in order to win me over. When before, I hadn’t been able to discover even a lick of rumor. Like vultures, they swept down onto the battlefield to feast and then flee. Except I wasn’t an ornament to be used and discarded whenever Angels chose to pick me up. Fallen or otherwise.
I wasn’t some bauble.
And it was time I let everyone know that.
In one great big pacifying inferno.
Everything else was moving along on schedule, I just needed to let Nameless know the location for our date. So, we could get rid of the trash in this city once and for all.
Chapter 54
I walked into my recently-purchased church, studying the shadows of my new rental property. I didn’t even have insurance on it yet. Well, maybe I did. Midas had handled all the paperwork, and I hadn’t had time to look over it. It was probably a requirement these days.
“Go light the candles,” I told Rai. “Spread them around so there are less shadows. We’re about to christen the Church of Callie, after all.”
“Okay,” she whispered, hurrying to comply. I watched her natural, younger form, the one that the players in town would recognize, not the mature beauty my father had been dating. I couldn’t risk anyone making the connection between the two. The young brunette slipped candles out of a backpack, lighting them with a box of matches as she found empty spots on the floor, a serviceable table or stand, a shelf, or a carved niche in the wall.
“Let there be light,” I muttered drily, the irony not lost on me.
All will be well… one of the whispers cooed reassuringly. Soon, all will know.
I grunted, nodding my head in agreement.
I walked the cleared open space, getting a more intimate feel for my surroundings. It was about to be crowded. I readjusted a few of Rai’s candles, but more for something to do as I waited.
Splintered and broken pews littered the floor in places, though most were in working order. The place was dirty and covered with dust, and hoodlums had broken in at some point to tag their signatures, artwork, or gang signs on a few walls. Unsurprisingly, no one had desecrated the pulpit. That took balls, even for hardened criminals.
Rai managed to find a few unbroken candelabras with usable candles in the wreckage and lit them after propping them up and making sure they could stand on their own. Shortly after, she returned to my side, assessing the room dejectedly, waiting.
“You are my pawn in this,” I said, not looking at her.
I sensed her resigned nod out of my peripheral vision but didn’t bother wasting time to give her false reassurance. There wasn’t any point. She would serve my purposes soon and pay the debt she had been so eager to pay. It wasn’t like I knew her or cared about her. Just another person involved in the story of my life who had withheld information from me. If she had come to me months ago, I might have felt differently.
But… she hadn’t.
She had come tonight to fulfill her promise to my mother. That was the only part of my plan I had decided to reveal to her. That she would arrive with me, wait, and fulfill her debt at a time of my choosing. If I told her anything else, she might have run screaming from the building.
Couldn’t have that.
I heard a sound from the back of the building ahead of us and waited, ignoring Rai’s uneasy gasp. It had been faint, but noticeable.
Staring ahead, I saw two sets of eyes reflecting the candlelight. “Are you alone?” I called out.
There was a pregnant pause before a familiar voice responded. “Yes,” Olin Fuentes growled.
Rai stiffened in recognition, turning to look at me with horrified eyes. Instead of answering her, I held out my hand for her to grab. “Time to pay your debt,” I said in a detached voice.
“You… set me up,” she whispered from a dry throat, her voice quivering in fear of the two Templars standing in the shadows across the room. “Sold me out,” she added. She must have expected me to ask her to fight at my side against my enemies.
I liked my idea better.
“Yes,” I told her.
With a shaky breath, she took my hand. Her palm was hot and sweaty as I led her over to the two figures, who were only now stepping out of the shadows.
Templar Commander Olin Fuentes, and…
His new acolyte, the dirty cop. Detective Beckett Killian.
They were armed and wore their pretty little scarves that covered up their pretty little sins. I halted a pace away, my face uncaring, unafraid, and unyielding. These two were beneath me.
In contrast, their faces were masks of different flavors of anger. Olin looked a breath away from giving up his prize in Rai, and rekindling our earlier fight. Because I had shown the city that he was really a werewolf. A big part of him wanted revenge for that. But he was also mildly intelligent, leery of such an easy setup. Me alone in a church without a weapon on hand had to be a trap.
He had seen how resourceful I could be.
Beckett stared at me with anger as well – upset that I hadn’t allowed him to justify his decision. Then again, my perspective had changed. He had been righter than he knew.
I smirked absently. “A dirty cop and a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Oath-breakers. Hypocrites. The great unwashed,” I murmured, as if reciting from a Biblical passage.
They shouted in unison, fingers clenching, but not reaching for a weapon.
“How dare you blaspheme!” Olin snarled, chest heaving.
“I am not a dirty cop!” Beckett shouted.
I gave them each an amused look before gently shoving Rai towards them. “Your chance to repay your debt comes. Do not falter, witch,” I said, not looking at her. “Be steadfast.”
She nodded in numb resignation. “So be it…” she whispered, walking the rest of the way to the Templars like a skittish horse bought at auction.
Olin snatched her up by her collar, putting her in front of him like a shield or a possession. “This isn’t all we came for. Where is our Ring? Hand it over or we will burn this city to ashes.”
“You should practice patience enough for two this evening, little Templar, for I left mine at home,” I replied, my voice flat and emotionless. Beckett studied me as if he had never seen me before. I turned my back on them, ignoring Olin’s sputtered protests and growls.
They cut off abruptly as a winged figure dropped from the rafters high above, landing in a crouch that cracked the wooden floor, wings outstretched. Nephilim were suddenly standing up from thei
r hiding places, having snuck in while I addressed the Templars. I hadn’t acknowledged their arrival, though I had noticed it – even if no one else had. Every single molecule of testosterone in the room abruptly magnified as weapons were drawn and aimed at each other.
Like two spirits, only Nameless and I remained unconcerned and unaffected. No one attacked, but each man was ready for a fight at the slightest breath.
“You received my note,” I said.
He nodded, briefly scanning the building. “The Church of Callie…” he said, not sounding particularly pleased.
“I needed you to be able to decipher it, and not give the location away to anyone else.”
He nodded, glancing back at the Templars. “Leave them,” he commanded his Nephilim. “They are not your concern. Unless they make themselves a concern,” he added.
The Nephilim nodded stiffly, lowering their weapons. I didn’t see Alyksandre or Kevin, but didn’t really care enough to ask about it. Olin and Beckett looked visibly relieved that they wouldn’t have to fight Nephilim.
Turn them on each other…
Show them their sins with a mirror as your blade…
Only the virtuous can prevail.
Repent!
The Whispers bubbled up inside me, not necessarily eager for the impending bloodshed, but resigned, convicted – in exchange for what I had promised.
All parties present had gotten their hands dirty, and that was no longer tolerated in my city.
The Church of Callie was about to be christened.
Chapter 55
Nameless stared at me. He knew. That everyone present had crossed a line. He had been the first to admit it to me. That he had tried to manipulate me rather than respect me.
“What is the meaning of this?” he asked in a very calm tone, indicating the Templars.
“All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God,” I murmured. “I wanted to offer an olive branch to get them off my back, to show them we need not be enemies. When they see our purpose – that of Heaven – they will repent and follow our lead. Or they will abandon their sacred duty, but they will do so without the shelter of denial. The truth will be laid bare tonight. Perhaps they will reconsider their hatred when they hear that the thief was working for me the entire time,” I said, pointing a finger at Rai, yet not turning to look at her. “To ensure that this moment, here, now, was possible.”
Angel's Roar: Feathers and Fire Book 4 Page 25
