Fighting the sick fear rising inside me, I lifted my chin. “Mr Fisher, I presume?” That was good. All I needed was a fluffy white cat in my lap.
He nodded in my direction and set his briefcase down on the table. “Miss Matthews.”
“I’d shake your hand, but I’m afraid I’m rather indisposed at the moment.” I nodded at my restraints with an apologetic smile.
A flicker of surprise crossed his face, although he didn’t respond. He sat down, opened the briefcase, and took out a lined pad of paper and a posh-looking pen.
“Am I to understand you are in charge of this motley crew?” I continued.
He raised his eyebrows. “They are here at my bidding, yes.”
“Good, good. In which case, I’m afraid, I have several complaints to make about their treatment of me. Firstly, the van. I mean, I’m all for the ‘oldie is a goodie’ scenario, but really. Mercedes makes vans too, and they’re a lot more comfortable inside. I would advise upgrading before your next arranged kidnapping.” I smiled politely.
He frowned, obviously confused. “Miss Matthews. I am here to question you about your mother, Rose Matthews, and her recent work on the Arma Christi.”
I smiled and nodded. “Yes, yes, of course, and we’ll get to that, but I haven’t quite finished. My second complaint is the lack of refreshments. Granted, after a few days in Florence, I could stand to lose a couple of pounds. Too much pizza and ice cream, if you know what I mean. But still, the absence of some nibbles and a glass of something to drink was rather irritating, to say the least.” Trying to strike the balance between delaying him as long as possible and annoying the hell out of him was tricky, but I swear he almost smiled. Clearly, I was amusing him. Well, that was something. He glanced over at White Eyes, and at the look, she walked over to me.
I stared straight ahead at Fisher. “Thirdly, I’m afraid you need to sack your cleaners. The facilities are simply—” I screamed as White Eyes brought her hand down on my shoulder and pain flowed through me. When she finally released me after a nod from Fisher. I was trembling and breathing hard. Fuck. Come on, where the fuck were the guys? Taking a deeper, slightly shaky breath, I smiled up at White Eyes. “Thank you, that really woke me up. I was feeling a little drowsy there for a moment.”
She glared at me and lifted her hand again, but dropped it at the sound of Fisher’s voice. “Miss Matthews, did your mother discuss the Arma Christi with you?”
I shook my head. “No, not that I recall. Now, as I was saying—” White Eyes brought her hand down again, and again I screamed as the pain filled every cell of my body.
Fisher leant forward on his elbows. “Miss Matthews, as much as I am enjoying your little wisecracks, I’m afraid I have a train to catch this evening, and I require you to divulge your information before then.”
“I guess you’ll be missing your train then. I hope you can get a refund.” I cringed as White Eyes moved, but nothing happened, and I realised she had stepped behind me, out of sight.
Fisher sighed. “Then we shall have to work together to persuade you.” He nodded to Suit and Bird Boy who walked forward. Suit stepped behind me and placed a hand on each of my shoulders, holding me still. Bird Boy reached into his jacket and pulled out a rather sharp-looking knife.
All pretence forgotten, I recoiled at the sight of it, and Fisher smiled. “Miss Matthews, would you like to tell me now?”
“I told you, my mother didn’t discuss her work with me.” Bird Boy knelt down in front of me and began to use his knife to cut up one leg of my jeans. When he reached the knee, he took a piece in each hand and tore until it reached the top of my thigh.
Fisher watched with a calm, detached expression. “Mr Blake here is a very useful chap to have around. He’s part demon, you see. Only part, and yet we think an ancestor must have been fairly high up in Hell’s hierarchy, because he’s very handy with controlling the elements.” Bird Boy leaned back, and with a twist of his wrist, a small fireball appeared in his hand.
I looked back at Fisher. “Look, I’m telling you, I have no idea what an Arma Christi is. I’m sorry, but I really, really don’t.”
Fisher nodded seriously. “I’m sorry too, Miss Matthews.”
Bird Boy blew on his hand, and a lash of flame darted out, licking my ankle. The heat was seriously intense, and I screamed as he moved slowly up my leg, burning my flesh as he went. When he reached the top of my leg, he sat back on his heels, and with a small pfff, the fireball went out. I hung my head for a minute, breathing hard. Tears dripped onto the charred skin, and I winced. The itch across my back had intensified, and I felt like my skin was burning there too.
Fisher’s voice broke the silence. “Miss Matthews, if you, as you so insist, do not know anything about the Arma Christi, then I will ask another question. Where is the Spear of Destiny?”
I gave a forced laugh. “Oh, for fuck’s... I don’t know what the fuck you are talking about!” I jerked back hard in my chair as Bird Boy moved, but instead of changing to my other leg, he got to his feet and stepped over to stand next to Suit. Suit brought his hands to my face and tilted my head back against his chest.
I looked up at him, breathing heavily. There was no pity or hint of mercy in his eyes. They were just... flat. I took a deep breath. “Sorry to disappoint you, but I was never very good at deepthroating. Sensitive gag reflex and all that.” Suit just smiled and moved his hands so one was on the back of my head with his fingers twisted in my hair, and the other was around my lower jaw. I felt the panic rising up inside and started to struggle, but I was pinned still. Bird Boy held his hand above my face, and I flinched, waiting to feel searing heat on my face, but instead his hand began to drip. Surprise struck me first, and then the horrifying realisation of what was about to happen slammed into me. Seconds after it did, so did the water.
Chapter Twenty-Two
CAS
I scrubbed my hands over my face, hoping it would make me feel slightly more awake. Last night, there had been no question of getting any sleep. I could barely sit still, let alone lie down and close my eyes. Everything Faith had told me was hurtling through my mind over and over again. I replayed that night so many times, becoming angry, heartbroken, irate, and tormented. She was right. It had all been my fault. I was the reason she was attacked and hurt so badly. I’d seen her in the hospital, but she’d been full of bravado and fire when I’d visited, I just hadn’t realised how far they’d gone. The thought of their hands on her made me see red, and I could feel my heart racing and fire flooding my veins again. I took a deep breath.
Alex looked up from his phone. “You okay, Cassiel?”
“Fine,” I muttered.
“You don’t seem like your normal, cheery self today.”
I looked at him, raising my eyebrows. I’d only known Alex for a few decades, and he was not usually one for cracking jokes. Faith was obviously having an effect on him too. He smiled shyly.
“What makes you think there’s something wrong?” I inquired. “I could have just slept badly.”
He nodded. “Well, yes, that’s true. Only…” He trailed off and glanced back down at his phone.
I sighed. “Only what?”
“Um, well, I saw you leave last night. I was down in the reception doing some work. You seemed... well, upset. And…”
I rolled my eyes. “And?”
He shrugged. “I was there working all night, and you didn’t come home before dawn. Plus, there’s the minor detail of major storms over the Sahara last night. Witnesses report seeing lightning and fire streak across the sky many times. Meteorologists are at a loss as to what caused it.” He held his phone up to show me the news story. “I’m guessing seriously frustrated and pissed off fallen angels aren’t on their list of possible causes, but they’re definitely on mine.”
I shifted my eyes from the phone screen and met his, and I grinned guiltily. “Anyone see me?”
He shook his head. “Not in any report I’ve read yet. I think you were
lucky though.”
I took a breath. “Good. Look, Alex—”
He shook his head. “I haven’t mentioned it to the others, and I won’t. Just, if you need someone to talk to, I’m here. Or if you need to let off steam, take Amadi and beat each other up. Let’s try to avoid the exposure of divine beings to humans just because a girl told you to get lost.”
I opened my mouth to retort, then thought better of it, and glanced over at the door to the fresco. “She’s been a while. Maybe someone should check on her.” Alex nodded. He walked over to Amadi and murmured something to him before they both disappeared through the door.
I wandered over to Sam, who was making a slow circuit of the church. He seemed antsy. “You okay?”
“Yeah, it’s just... it’s been a few days. I could do with getting somewhere with some open spaces.”
“Not a problem. There’s clearly nothing here, nothing obvious anyway. Maybe tomorrow you and Faith could hire a car and go to the beach. I think it’s only about an hour away.”
The mere mention had Sam’s eyes lighting up. “Oh yeah, that would be cool. We could go early and pick up some stuff from the bakers and do a whole picnic thing…” His voice trailed off, and I turned to see what he was looking at. Alex and Amadi had come back through the door and were heading straight for us, identical expressions of worry on their faces. Faith.
“What’s up?” I asked as they got to us.
“It’s Faith. She’s not there.” Amadi’s voice was rough, and I frowned.
“What do you mean, she’s not there?”
“I mean, she’s not there! She’s not in the refectory. We searched the place, she’s gone.” His voice rose slightly, and I put a hand on his shoulder to try to calm him.
“Well, she didn’t come back in here, I’d have smelled her.” Sam looked at me, concern etched across his features.
“There’s a door out into the alleyway behind the church, but she wasn’t there either. We came to let you know before we went wandering out into the city. Maybe Sam could catch her scent?” Alex was calmer than his partner, but I could still see the doubt in his eyes.
I nodded. “Let’s go. Alex, could you find Euriel? I think he wandered off to the other gallery.” The rest of us headed through the refectory and out into the alley. Pausing, I let Sam step forward.
He sniffed at the air, then bent down towards the ground briefly before straightening up. “She definitely came this way, but there are other scents, too, that I don’t recognise. I think someone was with her. Maybe more than one, but I can’t really tell.”
“Are you sure someone was with her? Could it have been someone else who came through here recently?”
He shrugged. “It could be, I suppose, but, I don’t know, something tells me she wasn’t alone.”
“Okay, which way?” He gestured down the alleyway towards the road at the other end, and I jogged towards it. She hadn’t been gone that long, so she couldn’t be too far ahead. Stepping out onto the road, I glanced up and down to see if I could catch any sight of her, but there was nothing. Just a few Florentines going about their everyday life.
I sighed with frustration and waited for the others to catch up. “I can’t see her. Any idea which way she went, Sam? If we go quickly, we might catch up with her.”
Sam sniffed the air again, trotting off down the road one way, then doubling back and trying the other direction. He shook his head. “Sorry, Cas. There’s nothing. Her trail ends here.”
I ran my hands over my face and made a loud noise of frustration that had a few passers-by giving me slightly worried looks before crossing over to the other side of the street. “Now what? We go back to the hotel—wait, has anyone tried calling her?”
Amadi rolled his eyes. “Only every few minutes since we realised she was gone. Both Alex and I have been trying. It rings out to the answerphone.”
“Cassiel, I may have something.” I glanced over to Euriel, who had drifted behind us, clearly less worried about the disappearance of a lowly human than the rest of us. He was bending over at the side of the street, and as he straightened, I saw he held a notebook. Flicking through it briefly, he handed it over. “It appears to be a journal concerning some religious artefacts. Possibly belonging to her mother?”
I thumbed through it, but my head was spinning, and I practically threw it at Alex. “You look, I can’t make heads or tails out of this stuff.”
Alex nodded. “I’ll take a look. Why don’t you go and speak to the church security? Let them know you think a friend of ours might have been taken against her will.”
I scoffed. “Why do you think humans could be of any help right now? Surely if she’s been taken, it’ll be by someone with supernatural abilities.”
Alex shrugged. “That’s a safe assumption, however, the humans have something we don’t.”
“And what’s that?”
He turned and pointed to the corner of the building. “Security cameras.” Smartarse.
*
“Ah, gracias, gracias.” I waved at the security guard as I left the office. It had taken more than a little persuasion to stop him from going to the polizia, but I had assured him we were a private security firm and it would be extremely detrimental to the wellbeing of our client, and he seemed convinced. The video had been fairly damning, and I had struggled not to put my fist through the stone wall at the sight of Faith being dragged into the van, her hands bound. She had looked furious rather than afraid, which had brought a brief smile to my lips. Obviously, the van’s registration had been covered, and the cameras had lost them heading towards the centre of the city, so it had been of little help other than giving me a brief look at her kidnappers.
I walked back to the hotel, staring at the pictures I had taken of the footage on my phone. The guy wasn’t really known to me, but I had a funny feeling I knew the woman from somewhere, I just couldn’t place her. Her face was blurred, but I thought I remembered someone from a while ago who tended to wear all white and had white hair. I growled at myself, cursing my lack of memory when I needed it. Maybe if we hadn’t had that fight last night, she wouldn’t have gone off alone. I should have left one of the guys in there with her, no matter what she wanted. She would have been pissed at me, but at least she would have been safe. The shadows were growing long as I finally arrived at the hotel. Just as I reached out to push open the front door, it swung open and Euriel stepped through. He said nothing, just moved down the steps to the street.
“Where are you going?”
He stopped and didn’t look back. “I’m off to find dinner.”
I shook my head in disbelief. “Faith has been kidnapped, and all you can think of is your stomach? Fucking hell, Euriel!”
He spun around. “Don’t use that language with me, Cassiel, and don’t forget, it’s Lord Euriel. As in your superior. In case you had forgotten, I am here on a different assignment than you, and a simple human will not derail me from that task. Nor am I about to put myself in danger for her.”
I stalked down the steps. “Are you for real? She’s been taken, I saw it myself on the fucking camera. And you are just going to pretend nothing’s happened?”
He turned away, shrugging. “Humans go missing all the time. She’s just another lost soul. No one important.” I reached and grabbed him by the shoulder, pulling him around before driving my fist into his face. He jerked backwards, but I gave him his due, he didn’t go down.
“I’ll overlook that minor mistake, but just this once, Cassiel. I suggest you get a grip on your emotions. One such as you should not be forming emotional attachments to a human. It weakens you.”
I really saw red then, and my fist smashed into his jaw. I swung again, but he blocked me, and I got a well-placed jab to the stomach that had me gasping. I didn’t pause though and swung out again, hearing a very satisfactory crack as his nose broke. He yelled and jumped back.
“Control yourself, Cassiel. I suggest if you care so much about the girl, you would be
better off directing your anger towards her assailants rather than at me. But keep in mind, I shall not be letting this go, whatever your pitiful emotional state.” He turned and began to walk away.
Gasping, I leaned on the railing by the steps of the hotel. “You’re a fucking coward, Euriel. You don’t care about anyone other than yourself. And you’re too afraid to. If you won’t risk your life for a human, then what are you fucking good for?” The last comment was shouted loudly as he disappeared around the corner. For the second time that day, a couple of people crossed to the other side of the street. Right now, I couldn’t give a shit. I turned and went back into the hotel, making my way two steps at a time to Alex and Amadi’s room.
Amadi looked up as I burst in without knocking. “Good job we weren’t in a compromising position, Cas. I’d have had to give you a good ass kicking if I caught you lusting over my pretty boy’s fine behind.” I glared at him, and he grinned, but the smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. He turned back to Alex, who was sitting on the bed with his back against the headboard, tapping away on his laptop. Glancing over to the open French doors, I saw Sam on the balcony, leaning on the railing.
“Where’s Euriel?” Amadi asked.
“Went off to get something to eat. I don’t think he’s going to be much help.” I took a breath, trying to control my anger, which seemed to be constantly bubbling under the surface at the moment. “Sam!” I called through the door, and he came back into the room, perching on the edge of the small sofa. I looked around at them, not wanting to confirm what they probably already knew.
Nephilim the Awakening (Wrath of the Fallen Book 1) Page 22
