by Jenny McKane
She hadn’t seen Gabriel yet and he wasn’t in the common rooms of the house as she walked through, despite his car being parked outside.
“Where’s Gabriel?”
“On the phone, I think,” Eli said over his shoulder as they moved down a long hallway.
“This is Sin’s room,” he said, pointing to a closed door to his right before motioning to the door directly across from it. “And this is mine. The bathroom’s over here. And you’re here. Gabriel’s room is on the other side of yours.”
Her room was in between Eli’s and Gabriel’s and directly across from the bathroom. Convenient.
“So the travel was good? You’re okay? No headaches or anything? Do you need some water?”
The questions were pouring out of Eli’s mouth quicker than Sunny could answer them and she smiled at the nerves she was witnessing. He’d been really worried about her, it seemed.
“I’m good,” she said, reaching out and touching his hand. “Truly. Kiku was great for me and I learned a lot of valuable tools from her while I was there. I have a lot to tell you guys and hopefully, you have some stuff to share about these supposed summoning stones.”
Eli nodded.
“Gabriel arranged for dinner to be delivered out here as it’s sort of a special occasion, all of us being back together,” he said. “Should be here in the next ten minutes and we can talk then. Take a shower if you want one—there’s plenty of hot water.”
Sunny thanked Eli and did just that after arranging her clothes and personal items around the room for the foreseeable future. She’d left nothing behind in Japan—her entire life contained in a backpack and small rolling suitcase these days.
*****
After tucking into the best enchiladas and Mexican rice she’d ever had in her life, Sunny and Sin helped clear away the dishes before settling back in for their meeting of the minds.
Asmodeus took control of the meeting, surprising Sunny a little. He’d been so laid back the past few days that seeing him back in charge was interesting. She wondered if there was something going on between the angels and the demon that she didn’t know about. Leadership challenges, maybe?
Whatever it was, Sunny didn’t care much. Or have time for it.
“How far are we from the stones?”
Asmodeus was suddenly all business, Sunny thought.
“Hour—hour and a half tops—hike from the entrance to the forest,” Gabriel replied. Sunny couldn’t help but notice there was definite tension crackling in the air between the archangel and the archdemon. Surely she wasn’t the only one who noticed it?
“And you’re sure of them? You’ve scouted the location?”
Gabriel bristled at Asmodeus’ tone.
“I’ve sent someone, yes,” he replied tersely. “I couldn’t really go myself or risk being followed in case we’re being watched.”
Asmodeus snorted.
“Of course we’re being followed,” the archdemon said. “You should plan for that. Count on it. Work with it to our advantage.”
Sunny could hear Agares’ influence in the archdemon’s words suddenly. A few weeks around the master planning general and Asmodeus was suddenly a tactical task master.
“I made a new acquaintance,” Sunny said, trying to break up the stare down across the table. The last thing their team needed was a rift. Or, at least, a rift bigger than the one that Gideon had caused.
Eli’s eyebrows rose in silent question. He was sitting with Sin between them but had kept his body pointed towards hers all through the meal, despite not really saying much to her.
“I met a tengu named Yama,” she said as the shock registered on the faces of her companions.
“No way?” Sin breathed, almost reverently. “A real one?”
Asmodeus made a face.
“No, cambion, we found a wax museum and Sunshine walked up and introduced herself,” he shook his head. “Of course a real one. A whole pack of them from what Sunshine said.”
Metatron’s gaze rested on her, encouraging her to go on without needing to say anything.
“They were lurking in the woods behind the temple,” she explained. “Plaxo woke me up and let me know that they were there and when we went to investigate they sort of introduced themselves.”
“Were they scary?” Sin, ever the fanboy of any sort of special demon, asked.
“Really hard to see in the dark,” Sunny admitted. “But kind of a cross between a bird and a man? That’s the best way I could describe it. Nothing like I’ve ever seen before.”
“What did they want?” Eli said before Sin could regale her with more questions about their appearances. His fists were clenched on the table. “And was Asmodeus with you?”
Sunny narrowed her eyes at Eli’s tone before answering.
“No,” she said slowly. “And they wanted to make themselves known. Something about the drums of war waking them from their slumber. They didn’t really commit to our side but said they’d be making the choice sooner rather than later. They also said they wouldn’t be the only creatures waking up. The drums would be bringing all sorts of guests to the party.”
“Did they elaborate at all about what else could be waking up?” Metatron asked.
Sunny shook her head.
“He didn’t,” she replied. “Is there anyone in particular you’re hoping not to see or something?”
Gabriel snorted.
“A whole list of demons we’d rather not see, Rosie,” he said, but there was no malice in it.
Another nice and ominous statement that led to nothing, Sunny smiled to herself.
“I concur with that statement,” Asmodeus surprised her by saying. He was actually agreeing with Gabriel after picking fights with him all night.
“There are plenty of demons we need to stay dead if we want to make it out of this fight alive.”
Or plenty of demons she’d have to befriend if they wanted to make it out alive, Sunny mused to herself, not exactly unwilling to step up to the challenge.
Chapter Eleven
By the time the sun was rising over the rock formations and paths of the Coconino Forest, Sunny and the guys were halfway to their destination.
They’d had an early start—one that had begun with a lot of resisting and bellyaching on her part, that much she could admit. She was jet lagged and the bed in the adobe house was so comfortable. She’d nearly gotten into a slap fight with Eli when he dragged her blanket off of her body.
The sleep had been exquisite, and she wasn’t sure if it was the fatigue or the surroundings that let her get through an entire night without bad dreams, anxiety, or crippling worries. And Eli had to go and ruin it with all his pragmatism.
“Move it, Bonnard,” he barked, snapping the overhead lights on as she covered her face with her pillow.
“Get bent, Eli!” She moaned into her bedsheets seconds before he ripped off all of her covers.
“Summoning stones aren’t going to activate themselves, Rosie,” he chirped, using the old nickname for her. It was rare for him to do so, so that got her head clearing through the fog.
“It’s too cold,” she complained, just because she could. And she was still a little salty at the rude awakening. She wasn’t going to be too accommodating just yet.
“I’m heading to the bathroom and when I come back, I’ll have a glass of water in my hand that I’m going to dump down your back.” Eli’s voice retreated into the hallway and Sunny froze.
“You wouldn’t DARE!”
She heard him chuckle from the bathroom. She also heard the faucet turning on.
“Try me!”
That did it.
She was up and moving around her room, searching for the clothes she’d set out the night before and pulling them on as Eli finished in the bathroom. She heard Sin moving through the hallway toward the kitchen, mumbling about coffee.
Later, as they’d stood around the kitchen island with the coffee in hand, she asked about the early hour.
“Why the ass crack of dawn?”
“Gabriel’s idea,” Metatron said, throwing his fellow archangel under the bus. “Supposedly the stones are stronger at the coldest part of the day? Some rumor about the northern stones needing cold to work better? I don’t know. I’m not a fan of 4 a.m., either.”
None of them looked good, to be honest. They all had bags under their eyes, they were pale from the abrupt waking, and nobody’s brains were fired up yet. At this rate, Sunny wasn’t sure her brain was going to fire up anytime soon—it was early.
The only thing that pulled her from her fog was the fact that waiting at the end of a long hike was a demon summoning that she wasn’t entirely excited about. She wasn’t feeling particularly Solomon-ish these days and despite all the ground she’d covered in Japan, everything with Gideon and the nox still had her a little shaken.
But she didn’t air any of these concerns aloud to the team and for as much as she was able, she kept her face a mask of placid, emotionless calm. They didn’t need to know how nervous she was about summoning the one demon that all of the other demons were basically scared of.
Beleth was a bitch. That much had been said. More than just a difficult demon, she was irrational, power-hungry and vindictive, and Asmodeus reckoned that she’d have one hell of a vendetta against King Solomon (and perhaps his heir?) for the imprisonment she’d endured.
“But I’m safe, right?”
The ring had kept her safe even when Baal had pushed his boundaries and tried to attack her for mentioning his fallen lover Lilith.
“Almost completely,” Asmodeus said over his coffee after he’d given her a lecture about standing her ground in the triangle. He’d also expressly forbade her from bringing in her obsidian blade, saying it was too risky, even with her obsidian immunity. “Beleth is going to be off balance and if she sees an obsidian blade, I can’t imagine it’ll be well received. And she’s a bit of a violent one, so I’d just rather not have you two facing off with a soul-ending dagger in that triangle if possible.”
“I’m not safe in there, am I?” Sunny’s jaw was clenched and Eli had moved closer to her, his arms across his chest.
“Are you as safe as you were when you summoned me or the other three? No,” Asmodeus still hadn’t met her eyes and was acting incredibly interested in his coffee cup. “But she won’t hurt you as long as you’re smart. You need her, Sunshine. We can’t skip this step, no matter how unpleasant Beleth is.”
He made a sour face when he said Beleth’s name, too, making it worse. Sunny let out a long breath and closed her eyes.
“I’m going to be so mad at you if she eats my soul,” she ground out, a little dramatic but also trying to make a joke to lighten the suddenly-serious atmosphere in the room. “We should get going.”
*****
“Up ahead,” Gabriel called.
Movement beside her made Sunny flinch and look the right. When she saw Plaxo perched on top of a rock formation too high for any normal demon or human to scale, she rolled her eyes at him. He’d come back from the Shadow Realm for the summoning and Sunny was glad to have him with her, even if he didn’t have to hike through the desert like they did. He just sort of showed up throughout different points on the journey without looking any worse for the wear. Sunny could admit it—she was jealous. Her feet ached from all the walking, which was more activity than she’d done the entire time in Japan while she was recovering.
Plaxo’s expression was smug and she couldn’t stay mad at him for too long. Besides, his legs were tiny. Hiking up and down the trails and around the massive rock formations and cactus outgrowths would have been murder on his little body.
The sun was pressing overhead when they neared the spot they’d been looking for. Gabriel called for them to halt. Checking her watch, Sunny saw it was pushing 8 a.m.
Gabriel had out a small notebook and was turning it this way and that while comparing it to rock formations in the distance. He looked utterly confused.
“Is this the way?” Asmodeus asked, not trying to hide his annoyance.
Gabriel ignored him.
The bad blood was growing again as Asmodeus muttered a few curse words under his breath that Sunny couldn’t understand. When it was all said and done, she figured she’d like to learn whatever language the archdemon was speaking. Talk about a neat party trick.
“I asked a question, archangel,” Asmodeus barked, getting Gabriel’s full attention. Gabriel put the notebook back in his pocket and turned to face Asmodeus.
“And I ignored it, archdemon,” Gabriel snapped before looking back at the rocks in the distance.
Normally, Sunny would have stepped in and relieved a bit of the tension between the two--but today she was nervous and any slowing of their arrival at the summon stones was a welcome distraction.
She kept her mouth shut and her eyes to the sky as the archangel and the archdemon bickered like a couple of toddlers.
“What’s your problem, Asmodeus?”
They were quickly tumbling into a spat of epic proportions that Sunny still didn’t feel like she understood. Had she missed something since their arrival last night? Why was Asmodeus being so salty toward Gabriel?
She was going to bring it up as soon as they were alone. But for now, she let Eli sort them out.
“If you two are done,” he said as he doubled back and stood between the two. “We’d like to keep moving. We have a demoness to stir up.”
There was a glimpse of the sense of humor she’d been missing the past few hours from Eli. With a smirk, she pushed past the two combatants with Sin beside her and got in step behind Eli.
A half hour later and Gabriel said they’d arrived.
“This is it,” he said, and it was pretty obvious that the stone formation they were looking at--gigantic as it was--had been created. It wasn’t a natural structure at all and so far out in the remote desert of Arizona?
They were staring at a set of northern summoning stones, Sunny could feel it.
Asmodeus didn’t hesitate in setting up the triangle when they’d all come to stand at the base of the giant, stacked boulders.
He doubled the lines of his work, spreading an extra wide line of salt over the first pass, mumbling to himself about security and attention to detail, sounding more and more like a grumpy old man. He’d been different since Japan, never quite regaining his equilibrium since the attack from the nox back in Norway.
Gideon’s betrayal had shaken all of them--but Asmodeus hadn’t recovered fully yet, it seemed, and Sunny wasn’t sure why. He wasn’t exactly close to Gideon. Why had the betrayal affected him so much?
A notebook, Sunny thought, remembering Gabriel taking notes and using them to find the stones. She needed to get herself a notebook and write down all these questions and concerns that popped into her head at the most inopportune moments. She’d bug Gabriel for one later, she decided, just as Asmodeus straightened himself and looked at her.
“Ready?”
Was she ready? She could laugh at the question. Hell no, she wasn’t ready. But the world didn’t care. The angels didn’t care. And the demons didn’t care. They needed her to be ready, so Sunny would do her best to fake it.
“Of course,” she said, pasting a smile on her face that didn’t quite reach her eyes.
Asmodeus stepped aside as Sunny stepped forward and crossed the line into the triangle.
“Remember what I said about holding your space,” he reminded her.
Sunny took in a deep breath and released it, remembering the mind clearing that Kiku had instilled in her. It was all the breath. Everything returned to the breath. Nothing existed outside the breath.
She opened her mouth to utter the summoning and stopped, closing. Her chest was tight and she felt panicked. With her back to her team behind her, Sunny closed her eyes shut tightly and grasped for control over her galloping mind.
What if she messed up? What if they failed to summon Beleth? What if the whole thing went to hell because
of Sunny’s incompetence? What if she’d just been fooling herself all along?
What if. What if. What if.
In a split second of clarity, Sunny sucked in a breath and spit the summoning words out before her mind could take off again.
“Aperio. Aperio. Apperai. Beletai.”
Chapter Twelve
Sunny was flat on her back when she opened her eyes. She caught the scent of burned hair in the air and her mouth tasted like salt. Her last conscious memory was summoning Beleth before everything went dark.
The back of her head hurt something fierce, which pissed her off because she’d already suffered enough head injuries. Whatever had knocked her down had chosen her weakest point to attack her. Eli’s hands were on her suddenly, pulling her up. She recognized his woodsy scent as her head swam and her vision struggled to keep up. Voices were yelling in the far distance as she shook herself awake. Slowly, the voices came into focus along with the rest of the world.
“Sunny, talk to me,” Eli was saying.
He’d placed himself in front of her now, blocking the rest of the world from her line of sight. It was easier to focus on his face, so she did.
“What the hell, Eli?” was all she could manage to croak out.
“The bitch demon materialized behind you and knocked you out so that you’d fall across the lines,” he said, gingerly feeling the back of her head.
Sunny winced but was grateful she’d been hit on the opposite side of her skull from the previous injury.
“Where is she now?” Sunny ventured to look around Eli and didn’t see anyone there. “And where is everyone else?”
Eli took Sunny’s hand in hers as he began walking away from the triangle. She felt a giant release of pressure from her chest as she stepped across the broken boundary.
“How did she escape? And I thought she couldn’t hurt me?”
Eli was staring out into the desert, tracking which way everyone had gone.
“Technically, she didn’t hurt you, I suppose,” he said, his eyes searching the distance. “She used your body to break the barrier which, I guess, is a different intent all together?”
