For a moment, nothing happened, then my power came rocketing out like a solar flash. The lights on the street blinked off. As well as the lights in the surrounding blocks, for as far as I could see. Well, fuck.
But I didn’t have time to be annoyed about the finicky nature of my power. I jumped up and grabbed the kitchen window ledge, snapping off the lock in one quick motion. The window slid up, not so silently. I heard the woman turn around, and the schnick of a knife being pulled out of a butchers block.
“Darling, did the power go out?” came a groggy voice from upstairs.
Quicker than a heartbeat, I lowered myself through the window and flashed across the room. My hand encircled the woman’s throat, cutting off her scream. Mostly.
“Molly?” Footsteps, pounding down the stairs.
I placed my lips to the black widow’s and pulled. Her soul poured down my throat, hot and dark. Right as I finished, her husband came rushing into the room, candle held high. I let go of the woman’s throat and she dropped to the floor. The man yelled and rushed for me. As I spun and leapt back through the open window, visions of Molly’s past kills filled my head. The cold, gray faces of her exes as she looked down on them after the poison had done its trick, before she called the police and sobbed broken-heartedly over their bodies. Shudders wracked me as I landed hard on the street. But I didn’t have time to stop and let the thoughts run their course. I put on a burst of speed and vanished into the first streaks of sunrise.
A few blocks later I stopped, panting. Not from the physical exertion, but the emotional. That had been more intense than any of my hunts before. Not so much because of the woman’s crimes, but because I hadn’t ever involved myself so personally, in order to prevent something. I knew by taking these scumbags off the face of the planet that I saved lives, but never had it been such a close call. The husband would find the poison on the kitchen counter—I’d interrupted her before she could put it away. Would he see the truth or would he weave a more comfortable version of the story? What exactly did he see of me by candlelight, and what would he tell himself he saw? The mind fought powerfully at times to come to a rational explanation.
Looking down, I noticed my demon mark was glowing. I twisted my arm and looked at it, the jagged spiral encircling my arm, burning a bright crimson. Just as it had the night before at the manor, it seemed bigger than usual. Lucifer hadn’t gotten to finish the mark and the runes that went with it to complete my bond to him. But hadn’t the last part of the spiral ended only a third of the way up my forearm, on the inside? Now it seemed it had stretched another couple inches around to the side of my arm. I shook my head. That couldn’t be, though. Obviously. All of Eli’s comments about it were making me paranoid, not to mention I was a basket case in this city.
I picked up a jog and headed back toward Gus’s bar. A shot of whiskey would wipe away that worry, plus the slick, dirty taste of a black soul from my mouth.
About a block outside the bar, something hit the ground hard behind me. I spun, pulling my sword, but it was just Eli, resplendent in the morning sun. Here I was, feeling as if I’d swallowed an ashtray, and he looked glorious as usual. How annoying.
“What are you doing?” we asked at the same time.
“Checking in with headquarters,” he said.
“Catching breakfast,” I responded.
Eli frowned.
“Someone who was about to murder her husband and child,” I added smugly. Not sure why I felt the need to explain myself. I’d been eating just fine for the last two hundred years before Eli came along.
“Really?” His eyes widened in surprise.
“What part surprises you, the part about a woman being a murderer, or the part where I actually do some good wiping evil off the face of the planet when I take souls?”
His face folded into a bigger frown than before. “Don’t be like that, Zy. I didn’t mean anything.”
“Sure, your judgment just comes naturally.”
“Why are you so difficult all the time?” he said through gritted teeth.
“I guess it’s in my nature.” I sheathed my sword. “How’d it go with the delightful Commander Juno?”
“Apparently I missed my twelve hour check-in by a couple hours, so she was none too pleased.”
“Really? You got chastised, eh?” I looked him over. “It’s odd though, for someone as exacting and rule-abiding as yourself, how did you manage to miss your report time? If I didn’t know better, I’d almost think you did it on purpose.”
“Of course not,” Eli said, pulling himself up straighter. “Why would I do that?”
“Why indeed?” I smirked.
“Donovan was right, though,” he said, hastily changing the subject. “They have a couple dozen supes at headquarters for questioning. Plus, half their cell block is filled with supes that have been jailed for minor infractions, petty theft and such.”
“Is that normal?” I caught Eli’s eyes. “Or are they using Ambriel’s disappearance as an excuse to round up a bunch of supes?”
“If they broke the law, they broke the law,” Eli said with a shrug.
“You’re the one that mentioned it. You know since the incidents in Seattle a couple months ago the gov has been looking for any chance to crack down on the supernatural community. It sounds like they’re trying to build up the crime statistics in their favor so they can shackle us all with these tracking devices.”
Eli crossed his arms over his chest. “I think you might be jumping to conclusions.”
“Maybe. But you know, the angels are next. As much as you guys try to distance yourselves, you’re part of the supe community, too, and more powerful than most of us. Don’t think the NHTF hasn’t taken that into consideration.” I shot him one last look and headed back to The Drunken Dragon.
Donovan was sitting at one of the tables when I walked in, Eli on my heels. His eyes darted back and forth between the two of us, and his typically mild expression darkened ever so slightly. “What have you two been up to at such an early hour?”
“Wanting to throttle each other as usual,” I said, rolling my eyes at my angelic companion.
Eli said stiffly, “I actually had business at headquarters.”
Donovan reached over and snaked an arm around my waist, pulling me close to him. His eyes met Eli’s as he did it. He wasn’t actually jealous of the angel, was he? I wiggled out of his grasp. Zyan Star was nobody’s arm candy. “So, are we hittin’ the library today or what?”
Eli looked pensive. “Yes, if Quinn tells us what to look for, we can divide and conquer. Hopefully find this spell faster.”
“Can I help?” Donovan asked.
“Sure. The more the merrier.” I grinned. “They’re going to love all us supes descending on the library en masse.”
A short while later we were all packed in amongst the gleaming mahogany halls, marble busts and arched ceilings of Trinity College Library. It smelled of old paper and wood polish. And perhaps a pinch of snobbery. A hush lay thick as fog over the place, and it made me very uncomfortable. Not that I wasn’t a fan of books, just more a fan of noise and action. If I could get into a sword fight in the library, I’d be right at home. Unfortunately, the looks I was getting from the librarians told me that was a no-no. I laid my katana on the table next to me and flashed them my brightest smile. Scorch also looked out of place, and kept playing with a thick silver ring around his index finger.
“So, we’re looking for anything about finder spells, especially about defending against them, or even better, counter-spells against that,” Quinn said. She had her blonde curls piled into a bun on her head with a pencil, looking very studious indeed. I noticed one of the young librarians trying to catch her eye, but for once Quinn was all business. She had a gleam in her eye that told me she wouldn’t rest ‘til this spell was her bitch.
“Where’d you get your sword?” Scorch asked me, eyeing it hungrily.
“Japan. Sea dragons,” I said.
He nodde
d slightly, as if that wasn’t totally badass. “It’d be nice to have a sword like that.”
“Well, keep your hands off this one,” I said. “I don’t share my toys.”
He rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair, regaining his look of supreme boredom.
We settled down to our research: the soul sucker, the angel, the werewolf, the shifters, and the witch. I felt like we were probably breaking fifty library rules, which made me snicker. Eli looked over and I turned it into a fake cough. Quinn put her admirer to work bringing us books, which he did with great enthusiasm. I cracked one open and got to work.
I discovered over the course of many hours that none of these books featured battles, sex, or alcohol, though there were some interesting cures for injuries and ailments resulting from battles, sex and alcohol. My mind began to drift. I wanted to help, but damn this was boring. I was of half a mind to go play matchmaker with the cute library dude just to shake things up a bit. Even if that meant Quinn killing me for interrupting her spell mission.
Next to me, Eli’s wrist comm suddenly buzzed. We all jumped. He smiled and blushed, looking slightly sheepish. “Commander Whitesong here.”
A little hologram popped up. “Calling all agents in the area, we have a demon breach on High Street by Christ Church Cathedral. All agents report.”
“Oh, thank God!” I jumped up out of my seat, grabbing my sword.
Eli rolled his eyes. “Show a little decorum. They’re probably tearing up the city.”
“I’ll come with you,” Donovan said. His eyes looked a little glazed over, too. Riley and Scorch started to stand up as well.
“Oh no, you’re not,” Quinn snapped at them. “You guys are staying here and helping me look for the spell.” She was channeling her inner warrior goddess bigtime, and they sat back down obediently.
I shot Donovan a sympathetic look before turning to Eli.
“Let’s go kill some demons.”
CHAPTER NINE
Adrenaline sang in my blood, sweet and strong, as we stepped from the interdimensional pathways into the midst of the battle. Eli and I spun away from each other. I didn’t bother assessing the scene. All I needed right now was blade and blood. Hunger for it rushed through me, as all my pent-up emotions from the last couple days came flying out along the edge of my sword.
I became a whirlwind of vengeance and death. Dozens of demons surrounded us, ranging from lowly spawn to eleventh-level badasses that shot spells. Some had goat eyes, some had wings, some had spiked tails. Others had ten claws on each hand or two sets of arms on each side of their body. Or both. The symphony of battle pounded in my ears. My katana flashed as I mowed a path before me. I was untouchable. Talons came at me, leathery wings flung over my head, spells bounced off as if I had a forcefield. Every cell of my being thrummed with the glory of a good fight. When I dealt death, I felt more alive than any other time.
An angel landed before me and I narrowly avoided decapitating him. Everything crystalized and my perfect dance was over. Major buzz kill. I opened my mouth to apologize, but had to duck instead as he tried to blast me with some of his white light angel mojo. Which I knew from seeing Eli use it was no joke. “Hey, watch out!” I yelled.
“She’s with me!” Eli shouted, abruptly by my side.
Had he been there the whole time? I’d kinda been on my own planet for a minute. We came up back to back and continued the fight.
“Your mark’s glowing,” Eli said, grunting as he kicked away a spawn.
I looked down. “So it is. It kinda comes with the territory now.”
“And since when did you start using magic in your battles?”
“I’m not!”
“The air around you is so thick with magic I can taste it.”
Magic? Occasionally I used a tiny pinch to enhance my speed in a fight. But I wasn’t using it now… was I? I hadn’t even thought about it.
He continued. “You deflected the blast from that angel without batting an eye.”
“I ducked! Plus he had shitty aim.”
“No, it should have gotten you.”
I sliced through the leg of a seventh-level demon with pus-yellow tentacles all over the front of his body. “So, you’re mad I’m not injured by one of your fellows in white? Gee, thanks.”
“I’m happy you’re not injured,” he snapped. “But something is different with you today.”
I spun around and grabbed his arm. “Really? This tired shit again? Fucking let it rest!”
“Your whole body is practically glowing!” he spat. “Can you control yourself or not?”
“Of course I can!” I threw my arms in the air and the three demons behind me got blasted backwards as if I’d thrown a hand grenade.
Eli and I stared at each other for several long moments as the battle raged around us. Eli’s chest rose and fell, whether from exertion or anger I couldn’t tell.
“Okay,” I said. “I admit that something happened there. Unintentionally.” Another demon ran up behind Eli and I released several of my throwing stars laced with Quinn’s magic into it. It burst into ash. I met Eli’s eyes again. “But the real question is, does this make any difference in whether you trust me or not?”
“You are good and true, despite your regular and vehement attempts to make everyone think the opposite,” he said, sighing deeply. A muscle in his jaw twitched. “And I know that if Lucifer tried to influence you through the mark you would fight it more ardently than anyone.”
“But?”
“But that’s it. Lucifer. He’s phenomenally powerful.” He took my hand and squeezed it. “Even you may not be able to fight it forever.”
“Well then why don’t we just part ways now?” I said acidly. “If I’m such a liability.”
He opened his mouth to respond and then closed it again, his expression stormy.
“Whatever. I’m done. I quit.” I spun around and stalked through the last of the battle, cutting down a fleeing demon as I went.
Anger surged through me, hot and quick. Eli was such a prick. But it was better this way. I’d been wanting to cut ties anyway. Get back to hunting Alexander. This was the perfect time. My chest hurt when I thought about it, but I shoved back the bullshit emotion welling up and put more distance between us.
Now that my battle rage had passed, I took note of my surroundings. The cathedral stood proudly a few hundred yards away, with its weathered gray stone, towers and crenellations. A pocket of time amidst the busy city, surrounded by roads on all sides. I remembered it from my youth, though everything around it looked different now. I was still reconciling the Dublin I saw now with the Dublin I once knew, a patchwork of memories in a modern landscape. It reminded me of my age, something I didn’t really care to think about. The first century and a half had been a total wash, and I didn’t need those recollections crawling back up the drain. Well, I could get out of here now that Eli and I were finished.
I felt a whoosh of air and Eli landed in front of me, his pewter wings fanning out behind him. He looked like a god of war, covered in soot, eyes dangerous, a trickle of blood running down his neck.
“I told you we were done,” I growled, trying to shove past him.
He let out a guttural noise of frustration, picked me up off the ground, and set me up against the wall of the nearest building.
“Eli, let me go or I will hurt you.”
“Would you just listen, for the love of God?” He looked as if he wanted to let out a string of expletives that would make me seem like the Virgin Mary. When I only glared in response he took a deep breath and let it out. “I don’t want to call it quits, despite the risks.”
“Why?” I demanded.
“Because I care,” he said, the words coming out in a rush. “About you. About us.”
I barely stopped my mouth from dropping open. What the hell was that supposed to mean?
Eli’s eyes burned into mine, and he leaned toward me. “You’ve got…” his thumb brushed over the corner of
my mouth and my heart started racing. “Blood.”
For a moment there was only the wash of heat from his touch, and his amethyst eyes on mine. I became distinctly aware of how close our bodies were, only a couple inches apart. When had he moved that closed? And why was it still not close enough?
“Zy,” he said, his voice low as soft thunder. “I want to—”
Behind us, someone yelled, “Eli!”
He turned, and the moment broke. A slim figure in uniform jogged toward us. “Marissa?”
I blinked, feeling dazed. Yep, it was Commander Hunter all right. My favorite person. Not. What the hell was she doing here?
Apparently I wasn’t the only one wondering. “What are you doing in Dublin?” Eli asked. “Such a pleasant surprise, of course.”
She locked her gaze on Eli, ignoring me completely. With her perfect cocoa skin and hair, she managed to look glamourous and feminine in her standard olive-colored NHTF government garb. “We just finished work on a new high-tech supe tracking device. Latest technology. I thought you might need some help finding Ambriel.” She waved a hand at the chaos around them. “And as soon as I got here I heard there’d been a breach.”
“Yes, Agent Star and I were wrapping up.” His eyes darted over to mine, and hers did too, finally.
“Well I’m glad you’re okay,” Hunter said, stepping in and giving Eli a small peck on the lips.
So, I guess that meant they were still dating. “New tech, huh?” I asked. “Does it work as well as that special supe bomb did at Mt. Rainier?” I smiled, sharp and sweet.
Yeah, last time Hunter got involved in one of our missions and brought in some of the government tech, they’d “accidentally” bombed hundreds of innocent supes when they were supposed to only be targeting the invading demons. You know, casualties of war, acceptable losses.
“I’m not at liberty to share the details with you,” Hunter said, a slight hiss in her tone. “But rest assured that Commander Whitesong will get a full briefing.”
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