by Jenny McKane
“Is that mountain on fire?” she asked, leaning forward in the front seat while Gabriel drove beside her. Sin and Gideon were in the backseat.
She heard Sin laugh at her and she snapped her head over her shoulder at him.
“What?”
Gideon was snickering, too.
“Seriously, you two, what?”
As ever, Gabriel played mediator. “It’s a volcano, Rosie,” he said, teasing her.
Her attention went back to the smoking mountain.
“Seriously?” She shot him a look and he just nodded. Sunny felt pretty silly in the moment, thinking the mountain was on fire, though, technically it was.
“El Popo, as it is affectionately known around here,” Sin said, obviously reading from his phone. “Popocatépetl Volcano is the second highest peak in the country and the most active volcano to date—having erupted just two years ago.”
“El Popo,” Sunny half-whispered, looking at the massive peak ahead of them.
“Demons would like volcanoes, wouldn’t they?”
She wasn’t speaking for any sort of response, but she heard another round of laughter in the backseat.
“I don’t know about Gideon, but I can’t recall any family vacations to volcanoes growing up.”
“Hate to disappoint you, Sunny, but this is the first volcano I’ve ever seen in my many, many years,” Gideon added, winking at her when she looked back at him with a scowl on her face.
“Shut up,” she muttered, eyes back to the front, though she had the beginnings of a smile tugging her lips up in the corners.
When they had parked and gotten out of their cars, Asmodeus took the lead and led them through a small park area set up by the locals to view the volcano.
As with Agares, the archdemon set to work setting up a large triangle with the salt. In this instance, however, he added extra lines slashing through the corners.
“What are those?” Sunny asked, observing.
“I call them locks,” he said, adding the last extra line to the final corner. “Zepar is a tricky one and I’m not sure you’re ready to handle him quite yet.”
She grimaced at his lack of faith in her but stayed quiet.
The sun was heavy in the sky, a few hours from sunset when everything was in place. She had her instructions, and her team was standing by if she needed them—which she hoped she wouldn’t.
With an encouraging nod from Asmodeus, Sunny was all set to begin. Except, something didn’t feel right. She glanced around them, taking in the desert landscape around them and saw nothing. Not a rock out of place (aside from the ones stacked and serving as summoning stones) and not a branch or footpath askew.
“What is it?” Gideon asked, sensing something stopping her.
Shaking her head, Sunny couldn’t answer.
“I don’t know,” she said, her eyes back out in the distance.
There was nothing there, she reminded herself. They were out there alone. She swore they were.
“It’s fine,” Asmodeus announced, after scanning the horizon himself. “Nerves, most likely.”
No, it wasn’t nerves, Sunny was sure of that. But she also knew that with Powers hunting her and who knew what else on their trail, she didn’t have time to search the clouds for fairies. Which was what she felt like she was doing.
Everything was fine.
It was fine.
Not allowing herself another worried thought, she stepped across the salt line and felt the ring on her right hand sizzle to life. After being charged before Asmodeus, and firing up again when she summoned Agares, the ring felt more powerful than ever. She even shook her hand to dispel some of the sting it was giving off. Once situated, Sunny got straight to the point.
“Aperio. Aperio. Appareo. Zepaei.”
She tensed, waiting for the shift in energy, but felt nothing. Counting to ten, Sunny tensed when still nothing changed in the air around her.
She tried again.
“Aperio. Aperio. Appareo. Zepaei.”
Scanning the air directly inside the triangle, she got nothing. Not a crackle, not a sparkle, not a ripple. Blowing out a frustrated breath, she scowled and tried one more time.
“Aperio. Aperio. Appareo. ZEPAEI!”
She was frustrated, so she made sure to annunciate each syllable clearly, especially the Guardian’s name. With a popping sound, the creature finally appeared and was much, much…shorter than she anticipated.
Sunny blinked a few times, making sure that the demonic prison hadn’t sent some child to her by mistake.
“Zepar?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.
He gave a courtly bow as Sunny took in his appearance.
“The very same,” his melodic voice sounded odd in such a small creature.
His head came just to Sunny’s chest, and as he stood, he took advantage of the height difference and was ogling her breasts as she was taking in his physical appearance. Despite being the size of an average 8-year-old, Zepar was definitely good looking. He had pale, ivory skin and hair so inky it looked blue. His facial features were delicate and like fine china, including wide-set crystal blue eyes and a perfect, pink rosebud mouth. He looked like some cherubic child from a Renaissance master’s painting. And he was the master of seduction? Sunny was confused.
“What took you so long to appear? I called you three times,” she said, her voice still unsteady as her eyes and her brain fought to make sense of what was in front of them.
His gaze went up then, meeting her eyes and Sunny nearly buckled under the weight of his stare. It was the most powerful moment of introduction she’d ever experienced and she immediately understood that she was being seduced.
“Holy shit,” she whispered, finally understanding the devastation this demon could bring about. It was unreal the feelings those eyes inspired in her.
“I apologize for the delay,” he said. “I simply love to hear a woman beg for me and call my name.”
That got an immediate frown from Sunny and whatever spell he’d been able to begin building between them was cut in an instant, partly from the comment and her reaction to it, but mostly because the ring was burning again. She hissed in pain. Was it giving her a warning of some sort about Zepar? She shook her hand hoping to ease the sting.
“I never imagined the day I would encounter a female Solomon,” he said, assessing her once more. He was dressed in simple linen pants and a tunic, both colored red and he looked like some devastating man child angel standing there. The vulnerability that his physical appearance projected was at war with the danger that she sensed within him.
“Everyone else is dead,” she muttered, breaking the spell again that she’d cast on herself by staring. Instead of looking Zepar in the eye, she chose a spot on his shirt to focus on while she spoke. “We have a growing apocalypse on our hands and I’ve been charged with raising the four generals.”
Instantly, the lust demon spat on the ground with great flair, going off in a rant in another language.
“Fuck those other scum,” was what she could make out of the bits of English thrown in there.
Sunny waited for the rant to finish, which was punctuated by another round of spitting on the ground and even a solid kick of dirt before Zepar looked up, his chest heaving, the polished visage he’d worked so hard for completely gone. His eyes glowed demon red and Sunny crossed her arms in front of her chest.
“Fine,” she said, worried she might be losing the small demon’s interest. “Do what you want with your freedom—exact your revenge on the Guardians. I just need your help to stop Death from what’s happening and you’ll get out of your prison forever.”
Zepar began ranting again, turning away from Sunny and apparently taking all of his anger out on El Popo, the volcano itself. Sunny glanced over to Asmodeus for help. He only rolled his eyes in disgust.
“What do I do here?” she whispered to him and he merely shook his head.
“Convince him,” he simply offered and Sunny had half of a mind
to spit at him as Zepar had done earlier.
“Zepar,” she said as she turned from Asmodeus, just shy of flipping the archdemon off. “You’ll have the freedom to make right all the wrongs you’ve suffered at their hands.”
Sunny had not the foggiest idea what sort of wrongs (if any) Zepar had actually suffered, but she had deduced from his little temper tantrums that, in his mind, they were grave and, apparently, many.
That got the diminutive demon to pause and slowly turn back to her.
“Tell me what’s going on,” he simply said, giving Sunny the invitation to explain everything up until this point.
“And you have the nerve to come to me second?” His temper was back, apparently triggered at the thought of Agares being summoned first.
“Logistical necessity only, I assure you,” Sunny said quickly, trying her best to get control of the situation. “We were two states away and could be there within the day. Visiting you down here was a much longer trip.”
His eyes narrowed at her words and Sunny was suddenly very grateful for the bit about the ring not allowing these Guardians to harm her.
“I see,” was all he said. “And despite having two archangels and an archdemon with you, you still cannot discern who is being Death?”
Sunny was getting really sick of that question in particular.
“No,” she admitted dismally. “We have no idea right now.”
That seemed to give Zepar a bit of joy, as he grinned and rubbed his hands together like he was hatching a plan of some sort.
“I shall unmask Death before any other demon does, just watch,” he said, not speaking to Sunny. Not speaking to anyone at all, really.
“So, you’ll help?” She tried to keep the note of desperation out of her voice.
Three generals would not work in the fight they had coming, that much Asmodeus had made clear. She needed all of them or the whole thing was lost.
“One condition,” he said, holding up a finger.
Her heart stopped. Conditions. Asmodeus had warned her not to fall for any.
“What?” she asked slowly, eyeing the lust demon like some wild animal now, ready to spring at her at any given moment.
“I get the first choice when building my army,” he said.
Sunny hadn’t thought of that. The generals were free to build whatever force they chose from both Guardian demons (the remaining 67) or free demons throughout the realms. Sin had likened it to a sports draft once he’d understood it.
Zepar the lust demon was asking for the first-round pick.
Her mind raced, thinking of Asmodeus’ words not to let a demon throw any condition into their agreement or she’d regret it. She wanted to cast a look over her shoulder for help, but knew Zepar was also sizing her up, looking for weaknesses. She was a leader now, with a legion of her own.
“Fine,” she said. “I agree.”
“I agree as well, Solomon,” he said, a wide grin spanning his face. He was happy—too happy. “I look forward to fighting for you.”
And then he was gone. When she turned and walked out of the triangle, she saw that Asmodeus had a face on him that could stop the dead.
“What?” she asked innocently, knowing full well he was royally pissed off at her for agreeing to Zepar’s condition.
“You better hope, Solomon, that your little moment of weakness doesn’t cost us the entire fight,” he hissed before storming off.
Chapter Thirty
Two down, two to go.
Sunny was feeling optimistic and that worried her. Not that she didn’t enjoy not feeling burdened and worried, but there was a gnawing in her subconscious telling her that she was missing something very important.
She closed her eyes as they left Las Tunas, having had a final meal and paid their hotel bill (despite not spending the night) and drove toward the small, private airport holding Asmodeus’ plane.
She was shocked to find the pilot and crew waiting patiently in the small hangar.
“How much did you have to pay them?” she whispered to Asmodeus, all but forgetting that he was really mad at her.
“Plenty,” was all he said. Yep, the archdemon was still salty.
She blew out a frustrated breath and fell into step behind him, not saying another word. She found a seat beside Gideon and noticed how the entire plane was quiet as the pilot got the necessary clearance to take off back towards the States. They were flying back to Phoenix, as that was where the plane and crew was chartered out of and they had the four-hour flight to figure out their next move.
Baal, a demon with supposed powers of invisibility and who came with an incredibly hoarse voice, if the grimoire was to be believed, was a Guardian of the East, so they were in need of a set of eastern summoning stones.
There were a few options—China, India and Japan all had summoning stones with easy-ish access, but in the end, Asmodeus and Metatron decided on Japan. A small island called Kyushu where, surprise, surprise, there was a volcano located in the Kagoshima Prefecture. The stones would be at the base of the volcano and it was there that the group was headed next.
Once they’d landed in Phoenix, Asmodeus went straight back into the charter flight office and began to work out the next two legs of their flights. He called a car to come get the rest of them and haul them back to the Stratus for the meantime.
“There’s no telling when they’ll be able to arrange our flights,” he said. “Plus, I have the feeling I’m going to need to employ a little tougher negotiation tactics with their business manager. I’ll return to the hotel as soon as I’m finished and alert you all to the plan.”
Metatron decided to stay behind with Asmodeus, and Sunny imagined it was because he was worried the archdemon might consume a soul or two in a fit of rage while trying to negotiate modern transportation.
“Imagine him trying to get through security checkpoints at the public airports?” Gabriel joked as their Uber drove them away from the small, municipal airfield.
“Fire and brimstone everywhere,” Sunny said with a laugh. “I’m lucky he couldn’t burn me on the spot after dealing with Zepar.”
Gideon let out a laugh and on the other side of her, she saw Eli shake his head out of the corner of her eye.
“You had one job, Rosie,” Eli teased. “Don’t make any concessions.”
Sunny suddenly felt defensive.
“I’d like to see you guys do better,” she practically spat, giving Gideon and Eli the stink eye. “It’s not like I got a manual for this particular adventure either. You guys would wilt your first day on the Rarest of Roses job.”
Eli didn’t argue that point and Gideon put his hand on Sunny’s leg and gave her a reassuring squeeze. Looking over at Eli, she saw that he was watching, too, but looked away as soon as Sunny noticed.
There was a certain tension in the air that hadn’t been there before whenever Eli was around Sunny and Gideon and she hoped beyond hope that it wasn’t some sort of jealousy creeping in. That would make things incredibly awkward and difficult and that was just something she didn’t need.
Back at Stratus, they were given new rooms, courtesy of the archdemon and everyone disappeared into them. Sunny took a long shower and when she checked the clock, it was approaching midnight. She figured Asmodeus got hung up, preoccupied, or bored with being around all of them and would just tell them in the morning what the plan was in regards to heading to Japan.
Sleep was relatively easy for Sunny and soon she was tumbling into the darkness.
Sometime later, she wasn’t sure when, she was woken up by the sensation of someone suddenly in her room.
Blinking she searched the side of the room she was facing, looking in the darkness around the bathroom and sink area. Nothing.
The feeling didn’t subside, so Sunny rolled to her back and sat up.
Her heart nearly slammed through her chest when she saw a large figure looming in her window, facing away from her so their features were obscured. There was a sharp slant of moo
nlight coming in from outside, but until they turned toward her, Sunny couldn’t see who it was.
The person had wings, she realized with a start as her eyes came into sharper focus. Large, dark wings. She squinted, trying to get a closer glimpse but it was no use. But the wings were familiar. She’d seen them on…
“Gideon?” she whispered.
At the sound of his name, Gideon turned and faced her. When their eyes met, she gasped at the red glow of the demon behind them. What in the world was going on?
“What are you doing in here?”
In any other circumstance, it wouldn’t have been strange to see him in her room, but this wasn’t really her Gideon. Something was off. And why was his battle form out?
Still, he didn’t answer her and turned his attention back to the world outside, back to whatever he had been watching before she woke up.
Sunny crawled on her knees across the bed until she was close enough to peer out the window and see what Gideon was looking at.
In the dimly lit parking lot below, it took Sunny a moment to make out anything but rows upon rows of parked cars and tiny trees dotting the strips of grass between them. The streetlamps were lit. What was it? What did he see?
She inched closer, but stopped short of reaching out and touching him—or even invading his space. There was a sour burn in the pit of her stomach and a tightness in the center of her chest that she’d come to recognize as a tiny voice of intuition. She peered back out in the darkness and let out a startled cry when she finally saw it. Them.
Nox.
A quick scan where none had been just seconds before, Sunny now counted four down in the parking lot. Two were moving between parked cars. One happened to be looking beneath Metatron’s parked Suburban and the last nox was in the center of the parking lot, staring straight up at Sunny’s room.
A low growl emanated from somewhere in Gideon’s chest, causing Sunny to shift over to the side a few inches. She’d never heard him make a sound so dangerous—so feral.
Glancing down, she saw that Gideon’s claws were out, long, black and razor sharp. He was clenching and un-clenching his fists, as if trying to control himself—trying to calm himself. The more she looked, in fact, she saw that his entire body was trembling and his breathing sounded labored, almost like a wheezing sound.
